I am so excited to introduce a special post from my "oh so talented" niece, Katie Dayton! She is mom to three beautiful little boys (they really are beautiful) and wife to my nephew Adam, who is in law school. Katie loves to cook, refinish furniture and repurpose old things. She agrees with Mamina's philosophy (as do I) that cooking a great meal and feeding everyone around you, is a great way to show your love! Here is her version of picadillo.
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I am Maria's niece, married to her nephew. So unfortunately I am not Cuban, but I say I can claim to be at least 1/4 because my kids have that much Cuban in them. Despite not having Cuban blood, I love Cuban food (and Cubans!)

When Adam and I were first married we would go a few times a week to visit Mamina and Papillo. Adam would do physical therapy with Papillo and Mamina and I would chat or cook.

Cooking with Mamina often involved a lot of laughing. I speak very poco Spanish, so there was a big language barrier between us. She would try her best, often taking a few seconds to think of words. She would sometimes give up, and yell at Adam across the room in Spanish what the word she was looking for was. Many times he was busy, so she would shrug her shoulders, laugh and move on.

Food is something that translates through all languages, it always turned out fantastic and just by watching her I knew what she was doing.

I didn't get that many years with Mamina but I will always treasure the time we shared in the kitchen together. I wish we could have made many more meals, she was an amazing cook!

This version of Picadillo is like Maria's with just a few differences. Mainly that it uses turkey instead of ground beef.

2 lbs turkey
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup raisins
1/2-1 cup spanish olives

Start to brown your turkey on medium heat. While it's starting to cook, throw the onion, pepper and garlic in the food processor.



It usually comes out like a liquid it's been so processed, but it doesn't matter as long as the flavor is there!

Pour it over your ground turkey, mix it in, cover and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.



Then add your tomato sauce and wine. I know some of you may be hesitant to use wine, but believe me, it is so worth it! The alcohol does simmer out, so don't worry about that if you don't drink.



Mamina taught me a little trick that I am sure goes back to her time in Cuba using everything available. She would pour out the tomato sauce, then pour her wine in the can. She then would put her hand over the can and shake it up, to get all the tomato sauce off the sides. I can never skip this step because I am sure Mamina would not be happy that I didn't get all the tomato sauce out!

Throw in your raisins and olives right after the sauce and wine. If you like lots of sweetness, add more raisins. If you like more salty, add more olives. It all depends on your taste. I like to add about the same amount of each. Follow it with the salt.



Mix it all together, cover it again and let it simmer for another 15 minutes.

And you're done! Serve it up with some rice and black beans, and you are in Cuban heaven.



Condensed recipe:

2 lbs turkey
1/2 onion
1/2 green pepper
4 cloves garlic
1 8 oz can tomato sauce
1/4 cup white wine
1 tsp salt
1/2-1 cup raisins
1/2-1 cup spanish olives

Brown turkey over medium high heat.
Chop up, blend, or process the onion, green pepper and garlic. Pour over turkey, bring to a simmer and cover for 10-15 minutes.
Add tomato sauce, wine, salt, raisins and olives to the turkey mixture. Bring to a simmer and cover again for 15 minutes.
Serve with rice and black beans.