Friday, September 12, 2008

Empanadas!

I had a lady in my ward teach me the fine art of empanadas and now we are Empanada lovers. Because I am not the greatest cook in the world, it is easier for me to see how to make it and then fake it later.

Here is the easy recipe.

2 Cups Flour
2 TBSP Sugar
2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/3 Cup Shortening
1/3 Cup Butter (cubed) the recipe says non salted, but I don't think it is a big deal
1/3 Cup ice water

1. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Cut in Shortening and butter until the dough is crumbly. I used my KitchenAid with the wisk attachment and it worked great.
2. Add the water in slowly as you are mixing until the dough is in a clump. My didn't really make a big clump until I helped knead it into clump.
3. Knead it a little into a ball, but don't over work it.
4. Divide in half and roll into balls. Place each ball in plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Wrap up and put in the freezer for about 10-15 min.

This process takes about 10-15 minutes to make the dough

I would start with the filling first so it is ready to go when the dough has finished chilling.
We use Turkey burger cause it is cheaper and healthier, but mostly cause it is cheaper.
I cook up the below:

1 lb Turkey burger
1/2 or 1 bottle of Taco Sauce - whatever you like
1 Cup of Rice
1 Cup water
Salt and Pepper to taste

1. Brown up the burger.
2. Add Rice, water, taco Sauce and salt/pepper. Bring to a boil.
3. When the rice is soft, it is done.

this process takes about 35 minutes.

Take out the dough disc. Cut it like a pizza into 8 slices. Take the first slice and roll into a ball. Lightly flour your surface and roll out a circle to about 1/8" thick. It is ok to make 'um thin.

Scoop you filling into the middle of the circle and fold over. I used a fork to press the edges together and close.
Put on a lightly greased cookie sheet. You can pack them on close together. I fit all 16 on one sheet.
Bake for 20 Minutes at 375 degrees. The crust doesn't get real brown or golden. But 20 minutes seems to do the job.

Since we made 16, we ate about 8 and froze the other 8. They reheat well!

The filling is really your preference. We added cheese inside with our filling. Dan and Kim may want Chirizo filling...
I think you could even adapt them for apple turnovers and use pie filling. Let me know if you have any additional ideas or success with the recipe.

3 comments:

willblatt said...

A simpler brazilian alternative: pastels.

1. Buy egg roll wrappers
2. fill them with cheese and meat
3. close them and deep fry
4. eat until ya can't eat no mo'

Admittedly though, I've never had empanadas. Maybe we'll give 'em a whirl!

tblattman said...

OH YES Will, those are yummy! We will have to try your recipe Sarah, still love your cranberry salsa dip with cream cheese.

MOM B said...

I'm looking for easy recipes but this one has too many words to be easy.
Dad, signing on as Mom