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.

Spaghetti with Meat Sauce (gluten-free)

Gluten-free spaghetti with meat sauce, parmesan cheese, and cold okra

 Spaghetti Sauce

This doesn't bear much discussion - it's just ordinary
every-kid-likes-it American spaghetti sauce.

1 lb hamburger, browned in a pan
1/2 chopped sweet onion added to the burger in the pan
Spoonful of jarred garlic bits
Brown some more, turn out into 2-qt. crockpot.
Add 1 28-oz can crushed tomatoes
Generous spoonful light brown sugar
Some kind of spaghetti seasoning
Water to fill pot (not too much)

Cook on "high" until it's boiling, then turn to low and cook a couple of hours.

Serve over pasta.

Optional additives: any vegetables chopped up fine
parsley
dry red wine
mushrooms
other meats

Gluten-free Spaghetti

16 ounces (2 boxes) gluten-free spaghetti.  There are choices; I used rice pasta.

Potful of boiling water.  Directions on the box want 4 quarts for each 8 ounces of pasta.  Who has a pot that large, and who wants to heat that much water?  Do your best with what you've got.

Put the pasta into the boiling water, stirring carefully so the strands don't get stuck together.  (Rice pasta produces a lot of starch in the water.)  Observe timing directions on the box, and watch and test frequently.  Rice pasta is easily overcooked and then it falls apart.

Drain, rinse in cold water to stop the cooking process and to wash off the excess starch.  I like to add a few drops of oil to the mass to keep it from sticking together.

Serve sauce over spaghetti and with Parmesan cheese available.

Rice pasta rinsed with cold water and draining.

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 is #99 in the Baker's Dozen Challenge Countdown.