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A Child Leads The Way To Delicious Picadillo

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By JEFF HOUCK jhouck@tampatrib.com

The Tampa Tribune

Published: October 26, 2008

A few weeks back, Jo Nashick of Tampa asked for a recipe for picadillo.

Emmy Purcell Reynolds of Tampa e-mailed that she couldn't resist sending the original recipe by her son, Thomas J. Reynolds.

"He mastered it over a year or so while learning to become a pretty good cook," she writes. "It doesn't taste exactly like all the Cuban restaurants' recipes, but it has a more chunky, spicy taste with more vegetables. We eat it more like a whole meal stew over rice or as a soup in a bowl. It is really filling, delicious and, of course, NOT low-fat."

Thomas cooked it for the family when they went to a cousin's North Carolina log cabin estate home. "It truly is a delicious comfort-food type of meal," his mother says.

She says the interesting thing about this recipe is that her son mastered it three years ago when he was 12 years old. A fourth-generation Tampa native, Thomas is a freshman at Plant High School, where his father, sister and mother graduated.

"He knows if he marries a girl who can't cook, at least he won't starve," she writes.

Reynolds considered sending a photo of her son cooking, "but I think that would embarrass him too much."

Yes, Emmy. Yes, it would.

In A Jam For Cake

Recent recipes included here for caramel and penuche icings put Carol Larmon of Tampa in mind of a delicious cake she enjoyed while living in Kentucky back in the 1960s.

"Called jam cake, it was made, as I remember, with blackberry jam with seeds," she e-mails. "I think the cake was either a kind of spice or light chocolate, and always iced with a caramel-type icing. Maybe someone has a recipe."

Starter Your Sourdough

Suzanne Fuller of Land O' Lakes wanted a sourdough bread starter.

Myrna Gillespie shared a starter recipe she found in an uncle's old cookbook.

"I have had some of this starter for over 10 years and make cinnamon bread for the staff every weekend (I work at Moffitt Cancer Center)," Gillespie writes.

Recipe Leftover

Marge Lang of St. Petersburg craves the recipe for the green cream sauce that is served over some dishes at Red Mesa in St. Petersburg.

THOMAS REYNOLDS' 2006 FAMOUS PICADILLO ENTReE (SPANISH BEEF HASH)

½ cup olive oil

2 pounds ground beef

2 tablespoons garlic, freshly ground

1 whole onion, chopped

1 whole red bell pepper, chopped

1 whole orange bell pepper, chopped

1 whole green bell pepper, chopped

1 whole yellow bell pepper, chopped

4 whole vine-ripe tomatoes

1 cup fresh mushrooms

1 16-ounce can fresh-cut whole new potatoes

1 8-ounce jar seasoned olives

16 ounces Italian tomato sauce

1 cup cabernet sauvignon

2 tablespoons Frank's Red Hot Sauce

3 tablespoons Lea & Perrin's Worcestershire sauce

2 tablespoons black pepper, ground (as needed)

2 tablespoons salt (as needed)

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon ground red pepper

1/2 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

1/4 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon oregano

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

1/2 stick butter or margarine

1/2 teaspoon teriyaki seasoning

1/2 tablespoon La Choy Sweet & Sour Sauce

2 packages Uncle Ben's 90-second rice

Saute the ground beef in olive oil (do not drain). Chop veggies, add all other ingredients and stir and simmer on low for 1 to 2 hours, stirring occasionally. Season to taste.

Pour cooked picadillo over cooked rice.

Note: This recipe will not fit in a large frying pan. A large stovetop roasting pan with sides at least 3-inches high is required to keep everything from bubbling over. Recipe can be halved.

SOURDOUGH STARTER

1/2 package yeast

2 tablespoons sugar

2 cups plain flour

2 teaspoons salt

2 1/2 cups water

Dissolve yeast in water. Add other ingredients and mix well. Place in a glass container and cover; punch holes in cover. Hold at room temperature for 2 or 3 days. Feed rising recipe below. Let stand at room temperature for 8 hours, then use 1 cup in a recipe and place the other cup in refrigerator. From then on, follow recipe below.

Feeding: At the end of 3 to 5 days, remove from refrigerator and feed the starter with the following:

1/4 cup of sugar

1 cup of warm water

3 tablespoons instant potatoes

After feeding, allow to stand at room temperature for at least 8 hours, then use the following recipe. To keep starter alive, the feeding process must be repeated every 3 to 5 days. If you do not wish to bake bread at the time, pour out 1 cup of starter and give to a friend.

SOURDOUGH LOAF BREAD

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cooking oil (I use only 1/3 cup)

1 tablespoon salt

1 cup starter

1 1/2 cups warm water

6 cups bread flour

Mix together, stirring until just combined. Cover bowl with greased wax paper and tin foil or a dish towel. Let sit in a warm place overnight or 8 to 12 hours until dough rises to double the size. Take out onto wax paper covered with flour. (You also can add flax seed and oatmeal to the flour.) Knead 3 to 4 times and divide dough into 2 loaves. Place in greased loaf pans and let rise until dough doubles in size. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 min. or until bread is crusty and brown. Allow to cool before slicing.

Looking for a recipe? Write to Jeff Houck, The Tampa Tribune, P.O. Box 191, Tampa FL 33601; or e-mail jhouck@tampatrib.com. Keyword: Recipes, for more recipes and to check out our archive.

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