Papas Rellenas Casserole

Picadillo and Papas Rellenas Casserole

I had Papas Rellenas at a Peruvian restaurant and couldn't get enough. SO yummy.

So I decided to get online and learn how to make them. But I'm lazy, so I mixed a bunch of recipes and baked a casserole version.

I don't want to forget what I did because it came out yummy, so here's the recipe:

1 1/4 lb ground beef
1 can tomato sauce
2 heaping tablespoons of storebought sofrito (Goya brand, and the bottle said Recaito on it, but apparently that's the right bottled kind to buy)
2 heaping tablespoons of this homemade stuff (I tried to make sofrito before I found it in the store--it was 1 can green enchilada sauce blended with 2 bunches of cilantro leaves--not a bad mimic, actually)
1 onion, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
(I left out egg and raisins so my kids would eat it)
About 6 c very thick mashed potatoes (I cheated and made a boxed mix with an egg stirred in, and I don't recommend it unless you are used to boxed potato flavor--which I don't like; to make the potatoes thick, I used 2 c water, 1 c milk, 7 tbsp margarine, and 4 c potato flakes, with about 1/2 tsp salt, a dash of pepper and a dash of garlic powder)
2 c grated cheese (you could use buttered crumbs, but I didn't have any on hand)

I browned the beef with the onion and green pepper, drained it, and then added all the spices and sauces and cooked it about 5-10 minutes to let the flavors develop.  This was the picadillo, a combination of peruvian, puerto rican, and cuban recipes, so probably not authentic to anyone, but very tasty to American kids, and that's all I needed it to be.

Then I heavily buttered a 9x13 pan and put in half the potatoes, smoothing them into a smooth layer. I poured on and smoothed out all the picadillo (meat stuff). Then I put on another layer of potatoes and topped it with shredded cheese. I baked it at 350 for 25 minutes, and it came out better than I expected. Next time I'd use real potatoes, but otherwise this is a recipe worth making again.

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