Carne Picada in Lemon-Tomato Sauce

This recipe is delicious, fragrant - and serendipitous.  I found a package of "Carne Picada", whatever that might be, at Walmart.  It was last day of sale and marked down so I took it home to experiment with.  It seems to be very thinly sliced scraps of beef, with a bit of fat and gristle attached.  If nothing else it could be a welcome change of texture from the usual hamburger.  There are just under 3 pounds of meat (and "marinade") in the package.

Browned Carne Picada in a 2-quart slow cooker

Brown the meat in a large pan, in batches as it is a bit wet.

Lift the browned meat from the pan with a slotted spoon and put it into a 2-quart slow cooker

Skim the fat from remaining liquids and then add drippings to the crockpot.

Add:

1 onion, chopped and sauteed
1 large (28 oz) can crushed tomatoes
2 slices lemon
1 diced carrot
1 tsp. salt
1 Tb Demerara sugar

Simmer on "low"  for several hours.  When your whole house smells like lemon, it's ready!

Serve over rice with a garnish of cilantro leaves

Carne Picada in lemon-tomato sauce over rice

 To see a full set of photographs showing how this dish was made, go to this set on flickr.   (It will open in a new tab or window; to return to this page, just close it.) The small pictures are thumbnails; click on each one to see it full-size, and to read the comments under it.  If you prefer to use the slideshow feature, you won't see the captions unless you click on "show info" (top right).

This recipe is #96 in the Baker's Dozen Challenge Countdown.