Turkey Picadillo

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground turkey
• 3 tbsp "sofrito"*
• 3 garlic cloves
• 2 cups finely chopped fresh vegetables**
• cooking spray or 1/2 tbsp olive oil
• 1/4 cup water
• 3 tbsp finely chopped pear***
• 1 chicken bouillon
• 1 bay leaf

* Sofrito is the main ingredient in Puerto Rican cuisine. If you can't find it at a store you can make your own. I used my own but I've linked a page that has a recipe that will work and has more common and easy to find ingredients. Once you've made it put it on an ice tray, freeze it and use a  cube everytime you want to add some yummy flavor to your plates.

** For the mixed vegetables I used white onion, red onion, mushrooms, zucchini, sweet peas, red pepper, green pepper, yellow pepper, scallions, carrot and eggplant. I love onions so I had more of that than the rest of the ingredients. You can add or use the vegetables that you prefer. I used all of this so I could increase our daily intake of vegetables.

***Most people would use raisins which you can use instead of the pear. I don't usually like the texture of the raisin when it's cooked so I substituted it for pair to give it a hint of sweet. You could use apple too or just not use any. 

Directions:

Turkey meat doesn't season easily so in a bowl mix turkey, sofrito, garlic and 1 cup of the vegetables until all ingredients are blended evenly. Vegetables should be finely chopped. Let it rest for an hour for a more intense flavor. 

Once the meat is seasoned, sauté the remaining vegetables in a large non-stick pan with the olive oil or the cooking spray for five minutes in medium heat. Add the water, the bouillon and the bay leaf. Once they are well blended, add the turkey and start breaking it up into small pieces with a wooden spoon. Approximately after 5-7 minutes add the finely chopped pears. Keep mixing until meat is no longer pink. Reduce heat and simmer covered for 10 minutes for a deeper flavor. (Some people like it with some olives. You can add if you prefer the flavor).

Serve over brown rice or rice and beans, with vegetable stir fry or 3 slices of avocado for dinner. You can make tacos too in whole grain or romaine lettuce wraps....or even add some homemade tomato sauce and turn it into a pasta dinner...You can aslo serve it with whole grain pita chips as an appetizer or as a filling for pastries at your next party. Get creative but keep it light! ;)

Hubby's Plate

My Plate

I didn't add extra salt in this recipe because I felt the bouillon and sofrito had the seasoning needed.  Although I put the amount of seasoning ingredients to use I always season to taste. I don't like very salty foods so you might want to add more seasoning. I am also living in Spain where I think the meat is more natural and less processed which may make a difference when seasoning. I might need more seasoning here than I would in Puerto Rico. So always try your foods and season to taste. And if you can't find an ingredient don't stress it just google or send me a message for safe substitute. ;)

Enjoy!