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Dough:
Filling:
Make Dough:
Wrap dough in plastic film and refrigerate at least 2 hours, or up to 24 hours.
Make Filling:
Add tomato paste, oregano, cinnamon, cloves and cumin. Add the chocolate and bay leaf. Cook until meat is crumbly and mixture is well blended, about 5 minutes. Add pine nuts, olives, and currants, season to taste with salt and pepper.
Remove mixture from heat and set aside to cool. If the meat is still lumpy, pulse in food processor 3 or 4 times.
Assembly:
Place 1 heaping teaspoon of filling in the lower half of each round. Brush edges of rounds with water. Fold the unmoistened dough over the filling and press edges together with fork tines to seal. Filled empanadas can be kept in the refrigerator overnight or frozen up to 3 weeks.
Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly oil a cookie sheet or line with parchment paper. Prepare egg wash.
Place empanadas on sheet and brush with wash. Bake until golden, 12 to 20 minutes depending on size, longer if frozen. Cool slightly and serve.
Poster's Notes:
I had two different recipes to choose from; I decided to make the version from Empire cookbook this week; next week, as a taste comparison, I'm making the empanadas from 'Miami Spice' book.
Here's the recipe. And, btw, they are so easy to make, even if it looks like it's not.
I took some liberties; I used raisins, not currants, and I used stuffed green olives, which it turns out is what the next recipe calls for.
Posted by Judy Graeber
Nutritional Info Per Serving: N/A
5 cups all purpose flour
1/2 pound chilled margarine, cut into 16 slices
1 teaspoon salt
About 2/3 cup water
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 pound lean ground turkey
3 ounces tomato paste
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 ounce unsweetened chocolate
1 bay leaf
2 tablespoons toasted pine nuts
1/4 cup pitted, drained and chopped green olives
2 tablespoons dried currants
Salt and ground black pepper
Eggs for brushing dough
Put flour, margarine, and salt into food processor, until resembles coarse meal. With machine running, slowly add iced water in steady stream. Stop as soon as dough forms a ball.
In large heavy nonstick skillet, heat oil, add onion and garlic and sauté until golden. Add turkey and cook over medium heat until it browns, about 3 minutes. As turkey cooks, break up any lumps.
Remove dough and roll on floured board or table until it is thickness of 1/8". Cut the dough into 3" rounds (or larger cutter for main course empanadas).
Last week, feeling the need to expand the menu a little, decided to make empanadas. They were not only a huge hit, so much so that I hardly had any left for our company, lunchtime (everyone was eating them while they were cooling off on Friday) but my best friend who was born in Spain and raised in Caracas declared that they were excellent.