Picadillo!
Yesterday we (“we” being my whole little family and Chris’ parents, who are visiting to help us prepare for our big move) went to the Martinez family’s house to make picadillo. After two years of my raving about Gina’s picadillo being the best in all the land, and countless invitations to come over and learn the recipe hands-on, we finally had the 11th-hour opportunity to do so. What a treat and what an awesome experience.
Picadillo, as I’ve mentioned before, is a kind of hash (the kind you eat!) – recipes vary, but Gina’s includes: boiled green papaya, potatoes, onion, garlic, red pepper, chorizo, ground beef, achiote paste, Lizano sauce, consommé de chicken and beef, celery, cilantro, and dried basil. Oh . . . mah . . . gawd. What a lovely combination of flavors.
Gina, Ester, Sheila and I all took part in making the picadillo. We boiled and washed and chopped and dried the papaya. The papaya must be green – very green, bien verde – or, as Asdruval seems to indicate with a sour face while holding his stomach, it will either give you gas or a tummy ache – even just the slightest hint of yellow in the papaya skin is apparently enough to create this effect. Therefore, the small tinge of yellow on the green papaya I’ve brought from our garden renders it useless. The puro green papaya that she’s already boiled has a lot of water, and it must be dried/drained before it’s used in the dish, or the picadillo will be too mushy. So to dry the papaya Gina has a unique system – she puts the 4 kilos of chopped/boiled/green papaya in a sewn-up pillowcase which she then puts in the washing machine on the spin cycle for about 3 minutes. Inventive!
When all the ingredients were ready, we took them out to the backyard where Asdruval was standing over a 10-gallon “olla,” or cooking pot, heating over a wood fire. As we poured the ingredients into the pot (first oil, onion, garlic, chile, cilantro, achiote, then the meat followed by the papaya and potato and other spices) Asdruval mixed them deftly with a giant spoon whose handle had been elongated with a smooth stick, not only to match the size of the pot and amount of food therein, but also to allow the stirrer to prevent any burns. We all took turns stirring the pot, taking pictures of our Tico experience while our lovely Tico friends laughed and took genuine pleasure in ours. We brought home a couple gallons at least of yummy tasty picadillo and have been eating it non-stop. Today Ester came over with the kids and gave us a refresher course on tortilla making, so Sheila and Ester and I made homemade corn tortillas to serve with the picadillo for lunch. Delicioso! I’m bringing back some mad skills to our G-ville kitchen.
Only five more days! Increible.
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