Picadillo Chowder

Last weekend when I was filling a prescription at the pharmacy I decided to browse through the magazine section while I waited. Instead of going straight to the gossip about the Kardashian's I picked up a foody mag that was new to me: Clean Eating Magazine. Now the title is not at all inspiring in my book, but the cover story of 66 meals for under $4 really caught my eye. There weren't as many tasty recipes as I had hoped for, but this one looked pretty good and so I had to whip out my iPhone and do the sneaky - oh how I love cameras on phones!

Wil wasn't hopeful about this dish and the entire time I was preparing it he asked, like a 5 year old, if certain ingredients were involved; "what's picadillo?""is there cheese?", "are there carrots?", "are there peppers?" is there cheese?" "it is going to be spicy?", "does it go in a burrito?", "is there cheese?". You get the point.  As is bubbled away delicious smells of the garlic and cumin wafted throughout our condo and a certain Mr Ralph poked his nose up from his nap and snuffled loudly. Seems I had his sniff of approval. In the end Wil was impressed with the meal, which we served with warmed tortillas and yes, cheese in his bowl.  The recipe called for parsley as a garnish but I think I would go for coriander leaves if I was to make this one again. And since it is cheap, easy and tasty I just might.

1 onion, finely chopped

1lb ground pork

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

32oz chicken broth

1cup black beans, rinsed and drained

1/4 brown rice

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp chile powder

juice of 1 lime

parsley, to garnish

Cook pork and onion over medium heat until onion is softened and pork is opaque. Add the garlic and cook for 2 minutes. Remove the pork from the pan and drain in a heat sensitive colander. Return the pork to the pot and add the broth, rice, beans, cumin and chili. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes. Add the lime juice and simmer for 15 more minutes. Add the parsley just before serving.