Meat Turnovers - Empanadas

I was getting dressed a few days ago with my bedroom window open. There was a distinctive smell coming from my neighbors’ house and I couldn´t quite put my finger on what it was. They weren´t starting a fire for a barbecue, or cooking some kind of tomato sauce for the weekend pasta…it took me a whole 10 minutes or so and suddenly, empanadas, oh definitely empanadas.

In my favorite ones the meat is `cortada a cuchillo´, which means chopped with a knife. As opposed to ground. It´s a big difference when you bite. Purists will say it´s the only authentic empanada or turnover. There are many, and I mean many, recipes that claim to be the real thing. So it´s a matter of personal taste. A trend in the last few years is the open empanada, which is similar in concept to the fatay.

As with anything made from scratch, nothing compares to making your own dough. But then you already knew it, otherwise you wouldn´t be reading this, right? They can be made with lard (old fashioned way) or butter. Supermarkets sell all kinds of empanada dough: for oven baking, for frying, for appetizers (small rounds or squares), with shortening, with lard.

I made mine with lard. It´s a very easy recipe, but, beware the greasiness.. everywhere. But then, eating juicy empanadas is a messy affair. When you bite into an empanada and you have to put your free hand underneath the one holding the food. The best part. Of course, a plate, a knife and a fork work wonders, but where´s the fun?

There are so many filling combinations that I like; I think this is only the beginning.

EMPANADAS DE CARNE (Meat Turnovers)
from El Libro de Doña Petrona, by Petrona C. de Gandulfo, 1939 edition

Note: I used black olives because that´s what I had. You can adjust the amount of paprika and cayenne pepper if you like it hotter. You can easily make this with ground beef. The dough rounds freeze beautifully. You might want to practice with one round, filling and crimping it, to see what amount of filling you need.

Dough:

1/2 kg (3 ½ cups) all purpose flour

125 g (1/2 cup) lard or butter

1 teaspoon salt

Cold water, about 1 ¼ cups

Filling:

3 Tbs. (45g) butter

1 cup chopped onion

2 pounds (450g) rump roast or standing rump (I used the latter)

2 teaspoons paprika (pimento)

½ teaspoon cayenne pepper

¼ teaspoon cumin

Salt and Pepper

3 eggs, hard boiled

½ cup chopped green olives

½ cup raisins, optional
1 egg, beaten, for glaze (optional)

For dough: Melt fat in small saucepan and let cool but not solidify. Put flour and salt in work surface, make a well in center and incorporate the melted fat. Add half the water and start working it with you fingers, combining the wet ingredients gradually with the flour, from the inside out. Add more water, until you have a rather firm dough. You might use more or less of the amount of water indicated. There should be no streaks of flour. It reminds me of bagel dough.

Let rest for 15 minutes covered with a damp cloth to prevent it from drying out. This will help the dough relax. Portion the dough in 30g (1 oz) pieces. Make little balls with the palms of your hands. Take each ball, flatten it slightly and roll it quite thin with a rolling pin. Do this by rolling once, making a quarter turn, rolling again and so forth. That way you will get the best possible round. Uneven edges are fine; you can fix that with the crimping. Alternatively you can roll the dough and cut circles using a round cookie cutter . Stack them individually (I use frozen food dividers). Keep refrigerated.

For filling: Melt butter in a large pan, add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes, careful not to brown it much. Cut the meat in small pieces, add to the onions in the pan and cook briefly. Some streaks of red may remain; they will finish cooking later in the oven. Turn the heat off, add the paprika, cayenne pepper, cumin, salt and pepper to taste. Let cool completely. Never fill an empanada with a hot filling.

Preheat oven to 350ºF/180ºC.

Put the rounds of dough in your work surface and have ready the meat mixture, roughly chopped eggs, olives and raisins if using. Put 2 Tbs of meat, a teaspoon of egg, a teaspoon of olives (and a teaspoon of raisins). Wet the edge of the dough with water using your finger; this will aid when closing the empanada. Fold the dough over the filling, careful not to let it slip. Press the edges to seal. Crimp the edges using a fork or by pressing the dough between your thumb and index fingers every half inch. Repeat with remaining rounds and fillings. Using a pastry brush brush the tops of the empanadas with the beaten egg..

Place the filled empanadas in an oven tray and bake for 20 minutes approximately, until they are golden.