The second dish I made from Hello Fresh was Cuban-Style Beef Picadillo with Red Beans & Rice. Now I was a little concerned with this dish in the beginning. I love Cuban food and it is hard to find in San Diego, so in the very least I was hoping it just tasted Cuban.

The first step was the easiest; put rice on to boil.

Next, I chopped veggies and drained the beans. I will admit I snuck several olives during this chopping process.

I sweated out my onions, peppers and garlic with some salt and pepper. There was probably some oil in there but I cannot remember now. I was really hoping this was the sofrito that is so popular in cuban cuisine.

Once my onions were clear, I added the ground beef. I felt weird adding the meat directly on the veggies but I was much too lazy to argue.

Once the beef browned, I added the raisins, olives and cinnamon.

I stirred them in over the flame and then added the crushed tomatoes.

I let that cook down to a thicker sauce and then added some red pepper flakes. (Pro Tip: Be LIBERAL with the red pepper flakes)

While I was giving the Picadillo the last few minutes of cook time, I added the beans to the rice and mixed it all together.

Yumbers! The Picadillo is the star of this dish. It had such rich flavors and really only needed a bit more of that red pepper to be perfect. The rice and beans were just ok on their own and really needed to be eaten with bites of the Picadillo.

Overall Ratings:

Ease of Recipe: 5 out of 5 stars. This dish was super easy. You basically just kept adding things to the same pans.

Precision of the Recipe: 4 out of 5 stars. The rice just needed some more flavor. Not sure if this was an omission in the recipe but it needed some coconut milk or something.

Taste of Recipe: 4 out of 5 stars. This Picadillo was fantastic. So good.  I loved it and can see myself reusing this recipe. The rice needed some help though.

Quality of Ingredients: 4 out of 5. My only complaint is that with the tomato sauce, olives, beans, etc. It seemed like a lot of this dish was canned or not “fresh”. I know, I know, it probably sounds like I am nitpicking and it was probably done for time or comfort but two cans and other items being “not fresh” seemed high for a single dish.

Final Verdict: Four out of Five stars.

 

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. This post is not sponsored by Hello Fresh and I did not receive anything in exchange for this review.