Picadillo- Ground Beef Saute with Potatoes and Carrots

When friends from Manila come to visit, I am asked “What pasalubong do you like?” ‘Pasalubong’ is the Pilipino word that translates to gifts from travel. I love this gesture. It is one of our oldest Filipino traditions. It means you were in their thoughts when they were preparing to travel.

Family and friends know me enough to bring gifts like  Filipino cookbooks. I love receiving Philippine books like this one: “Judy Ann’s Kitchen” by Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo.

This week was unbelievably busy. So I turned to my go-to recipes, the ones which are easy to cook. I opened the Judy Ann Santos cookbook and I found this version of Picadillo. You need ground beef or pork and basic ingredients which you might already have in your pantry. I also had Jersey tomatoes from the bounty of summer. The best thing about Picadillo is that if you have leftovers, you can recycle it to make other entrees — like Tortang Talong , Putong Babi  or even Relyenong Bell Peppers.

Sometimes Picadillo is called different recipe names by Filipinos — like Torta or Giniling (translates to ground meat). There is something about the superb strong aromas of the red peppers in the ground beef, the red hues of the thick tomato gravy poured on a mound of piping hot boiled rice that is simply heavenly. It will affirm what you’ve always known — life is good when you can whip up easy dishes like this. Even better, when family sends you ‘pasalubong’ cookbooks, then it feels like you had invisible help in the kitchen on your busiest days.

Print Recipe

Picadillo- Ground Beef Saute with Potatoes and Carrots

Picadillo is a Filipino dish which is a sauté of ground beef or pork, or a combination of both with cubed potatoes, and carrots. I make this dish so often my sons expect it when they are home to visit. The best part of this dish are the leftovers which I transform to other dishes like Tortang Talong (Stuffed Eggplants), an omelet or even Putong Babi- Bread Buns with Ground Beef. For a balanced meal, serve this dish with steamed vegetables in parchment paper (see past post) and a bowl of boiled rice.This recipe was adapted from the cookbook "Judy Ann's Kitchen" by Judy Ann Santos-Agoncillo (Anvil Publishing Inc.). Serves 4.

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Course: Dinner, Lunch, Main Course

Cuisine: American, Asian, Filipino

Keyword: Filipino Picadillo Ground Beef Saute

Servings: 4 people

Calories: 301kcal

Author: Asian in America

Equipment

• Large skillet - 12 to 14 inches diameter

Ingredients

• 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 2 cloves garlic peeled, minced
• 1 whole onion chopped
• 1 whole red bell pepper seeded, white membrane removed
• 2 whole large tomatoes chopped
• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 whole large potato peeled and cubed
• 1 whole carrot peeled and cubed
• 1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 pinch salt
• ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper powder
• for serving: steamed rice

Instructions

• In a large skillet, over medium high heat, add the vegetable oil. When oil is hot enough, after 1 to 2 minutes, saute the garlic, onions, red peppers. Allow the onions to become translucent in about 2 minutes.Then add the chopped tomatoes. Cook for five minutes longer till tomatoes and red peppers become soft.
• Add the ground beef to the saute. Sprinkle Worcestershire sauce on the beef. Blend well.
• When beef 's color starts to change from pink to brown, in a minute or two, add the tomato paste and broth.  Add the potatoes and carrots. Season with salt and black pepper. Mix ingredients well. Cover the skillet and continue cooking on a low simmer for about 35 minutes till beef and vegetables are cooked thoroughly. The tomato paste and broth liquids would have reduced and been absorbed by the meat, so the dish will have a slight reddish color. Mix the saute so ingredients blend well.
• Serve piping hot with rice.
• Cook's comment: In the original recipe, Judy Ann uses a combination of ground beef and pork.
• Hello, Friends! All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos and  recipe content I wrote, on your website  without my permission. If you want to republish this recipe or content on another website or news article, please ASK my permission, re-write it in your own words and simply link back to this blog to give proper attribution. It’s the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 301kcal | Carbohydrates: 12g | Protein: 29g | Fat: 15g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Cholesterol: 152mg | Sodium: 976mg | Potassium: 788mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 5g | Vitamin A: 620IU | Vitamin C: 7.6mg | Calcium: 38mg | Iron: 4.3mg

Notes on Nutrition: The nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and specific brands of ingredients used.

Did you like this recipe? I have more classic recipes inspired by my late mother’s cooking in my popular cookbook: My Mother’s Philippine Recipes. If you’re learning how to cook Filipino food or a fan of Philippine cuisine, buy my cookbooks and books on Amazon.com sold worldwide in paperback and Kindle format.

Copyright Notice: Hello, Friends! Please DO NOT LIFT OR PLAGIARIZE Asian in America recipes on this blog,  my original recipes, stories, photos or videos. All the images and content on this blog are COPYRIGHT PROTECTED and owned by my media company Besa-Quirino LLC by Elizabeth Ann Quirino. This means BY LAW you are NOT allowed to copy, scrape, lift, frame, plagiarize or use my photos, essays, stories and recipe content on your websites, books, films, television shows, videos, without my permission. If you wish to republish this recipe or content on media outlets mentioned above, please ASK MY PERMISSION, or re-write it in your own words and link back to my blog AsianInAmericaMag.com to give proper attribution. It is the legal thing to do. Thank you. Email me at [email protected]