Recipe - Picaldillo With Rice And Black Beans

BEANS
1 cup Dried black beans
3 cup Water
One half pound Ham hock
1 One half teaspoon Salt
1 md Onion, chopped
2 tablespoon Chopped green peppers
2 lg Garlic cloves, chopped
1 tablespoon Olive oil

PICADILLO
1 tablespoon Oil
1 Onion, chopped
One half Green pepper, chopped
1 One half pound Lean ground beef
2 cup Canned tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon Raisins
1 teaspoon Capers
One half teaspoon Tabasco sauce (optional)
Salt & freshly ground pepper
to taste

RICE, ETC
3 cup Cooked rice
2 Hardcooked eggs, forced
through a sieve
4 sl Bacon, fried crisp and
crumbled
4 Bananas, cut or sliced up lengthwise
and sauteed in butter (my
note...I'd probably use
sweet plaintains sauteed in
olive oil myself here)

This next one is from one of my favoite cookbooks...the Dinah Shore
Cookbook. I haven't tried it myself, but I have had picadillo from another
recipe, and it is very good! Unfortunately, that recipe I lost a long time
ago :(. Also, this calls for a garnish of crumble bacon and sieved
hardcooked eggs. In my opinion the dish would be excellent without it. I
would not bother adding that myself...it is personal taste. And the
beans...if you were short on time or didn't want to go through all the work
of preparing them as per the recipe (cause I'm pretty lazy
:) I would suggest using a can or 2 of black beans, sauteeing the onion,
garlic & peppers in the oil, adding the beans with a bit of chopped ham if
you like, salt & pepper to taste and simmering that for a few minutes. The
beans are used as a topping on this.

(my addition..I would add some green pimiento stuffed olives also that's
how I've had it before)

Beans: Cover beans with water and let stand overnight. Drain. Add water and
bring to boil. Skim scum from top. Add ham hock and simmer, covered, until
eans are tender, about 2 hours, adding more water if necessary. Add salt
REmove ham from hock and cut into small chunks. Add to beans. Brown onions,
green pepeprs and garlic in oil. Add to beans and serve as a sauce for
picadillo and rice.

Picadillo: Sautee onions and green peppers in oil until brown. Add ground
beef, tomatoes, raisins, capers, tabasco, salt & pepper (and olives, if you
got 'em!). Cook, stirring, until mixutre is almost dry.

Arrange beans & picadillo over rice on warmed platter. Sprinkle with grated
egg and crumbled bacon over top. Garnish with bananas.. Posted to TNT
Prodigy's Recipe Exchange Newsletter by NAFY67C@prodigy.com (DEBORAH
EPSTEIN) on Mar 29, 1997