Abuelita Julie’s Salpicón
My Abuelita, or grandma in Spanish prided herself on her Sunday table feast. She’d often be seen perusing cooking magazines and clipping recipes and adding them to her personal cookbook which my mother luckily inherited. This is where I found the Salpicon directions, though this one was hand written in her absolutely perfect cursive penmanship. And I admit, the pomegranate embellishment, for better or worse, comes from my own love of the fruit and my wish to integrate a piece more of the Mediterranean into one of my favorite dishes.
Ingredients
2-3 pound blade roast
6 cups beef stock or water
2 stalks of fresh mint
2 Tbsp dried mint
2 limes
1 large red onion
3 radishes
5 stalks fresh cilantro
1 jalapeño pepper (optional)
2 Tbsp Pomegranate seeds
salt and pepper to taste
Brown the beef and place it in a Dutch Oven with water and cook it for 3 hours until tender. Mince the onion very finely by hand. (We suggest avoiding the use of the food processor because this will change the texture of the dish.) Trim and finely dice radishes. Wash and dry cilantro, removing the stalks and chop finely. Remove the seeds and interior of the jalapeño pepper and mince into tiny pieces. Once the meat has cooled, remove any fat and shred the meat into strips using two forks or your fingers. Then dice the meat into small pieces. Combine the meat, cilantro, onion, radishes, dry mint and jalapeño pepper in a large non-metallic bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the lime juice from two limes and add salt and pepper.
Pour the lime juice dressing over the meat mixture and toss lightly with a fork.
Chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes or more and then serve with Buttery Arroz Arabe or Crunchy Pita Chips. Garnish with sprigs of cilantro or slices of avocado