Picadillo, Mexican style ground beef, is a popular lunch meal particularly in Northern Mexico. Picadillo is an easy dish to prepare that’s in every home cook’s repertoire. Picadillo is great for making ground beef tacos, too.

Picadillo almost always has diced onions, potatoes, chiles and carrots and sometimes peas. Like most Mexican dishes, measurements are flexible. You add what you have on hand. My version calls for chile Poblano but you can substitute any type of chile of your choice.

Serve with a stack of hot corn or flour tortillas on the side.

Recipe for Picadillo – Mexican Style Ground Beef

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds of ground beef

• 1 chile Poblano roasted, peeled, and diced

• 1 medium potato diced

• 2 roma tomatoes diced

• 1 small onion diced

• 2 cloves of garlic minced

• 1 teaspoon of oregano

• Salt to taste

In a large skillet, brown the ground beef and set aside. In the same pan, add the diced onion, diced poblano chile, and minced garlic and cook over low heat until the onion is translucent. Add the tomato, potato and ground beef and mix well. Add a half a cup of water and cover the skillet and cook over low heat for 30 minutes stirring occasionally.

Recipe for Mexican Style Beef Tips

Beef Tips a la Mexicana is the type of dish that you will find served all over Mexico at family restaurants that offer a comida corrida, a daily lunch special. It’s hearty dish that is easy to prepare at home. A word of warning though, Beef Tips a la Mexicana is very spicy.

When you make Mexican style beef tips, choose a cheaper cut of meat that benefits from the longer cooking time. Better cuts of meat lose their flavor and the meat becomes chewy.

This recipe makes 4 large portions or 6 modest portions. Serve Mexican style beef tips with rice or beans and a stack of tortillas on the side.

How to make Mexican Style Beef Tips

Ingredients:

• 1.5 Pounds beef tips
• 5 Roma tomatoes diced
• 1 Medium onion diced
• 4 Serrano chiles cut into rounds- jalapeno chiles can be substituted. Dice the jalapeno if used.
• 1 Clove of garlic minced – add an extra clove if you really like garlic
• 1 Sprig of cilantro minced – parsley works too

Put two tablespoons of oil in a pan. Add the onions, chiles, and garlic over medium-low heat and fry until the onions turn transparent. Add the tomatoes and continue to cook over low heat for about 15 minutes.

In a separate pan, brown the beef tips with two tablespoons of oil over a medium-high heat. When the beef is browned on all sides, add the vegetable mixture to the beef. Add one cup of water to the pan. Cover the pan and simmer the mixture over low heat for 25 minutes. Add the cilantro and cook for 5 more minutes.

That’s all there is to it. A simple recipe for hearty Mexican style beef tips.

Spicy Tomatillo and Piloncillo Salsa Over Chicken

Acidic tomatillos paired with piloncillo, a dark raw sugar, create a richly flavorful salsa that complements the mild flavor of the chicken breasts.

Recipe for Chicken Breast With a Tomatillo and Piloncillo Salsa

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken breasts

• 20 tomatillos (about 1.5 pounds)

• 2 small onions

• 4 Serrano chiles (6 if you want more heat)

• 1 clove of garlic

• 2 ounces of shaved piloncillo

• 1 pinch of powdered cumin

• 4 sprigs of cilantro

• Salt to taste

Salsa Preparation
Husk tomatillos and rinse them well. Slice Serrano chiles into strips removing seeds and veins. Coarsely chop 1 small onion. Slice the clove of garlic. Roast all vegetables in a pan until well charred.

Blend charred vegetables with 1/2 cup of water until smooth. The tomatillo seeds should still be visible in the finished salsa. Do not over blend.

Place the vegetable mixture to a pan. Add 2 ounces of shaved piloncillo, a pinch of cumin, and salt to taste. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes to blend flavors and to give the salsa a thicker consistency.

Salsa Tips

You can prepare the salsa up to two days in advance.

Prepare a double batch of the salsa and freeze the extra salsa for use in the future. It takes almost no extra time to prepare a double batch.

Prepare the Chicken Breasts
While the salsa is simmering bring a large pan of lightly salted water to a boil. Reduce the heat and add the chicken breasts. Simmer the chicken breasts until they are just cooked through.

When the chicken breasts are cooked through, remove them from the water and set aside. Reserve the cooking liquid for use in another dish.

Prepare the garnish
Slice 1 small onion into thin rings to use for garnish. Chop the sprigs of cilantro.

To Serve Chicken Breasts

Place a cooked chicken breast on one side of a dinner plate. Spoon the green tomatillo salsa over the chicken breast allowing a pool of salsa to form on the plate. The extra salsa is to dip the chicken in.

Place a few sliced onion rings on top of the chicken breast and sprinkle with chopped cilantro to garnish.

White rice is a good side dish that doesn’t clash with the strong flavors of the salsa.

Total preparation time 1 hour and 20 minutes. Serves four.