This beef mixture is great for empanadas, but it’s also delicious over rice. It’s very similar to a ground beef dish called Picadillo. It also freezes beautifully.
Empanada wrappers can be easily found in the freezer section of
most supermarkets. If you can’t find them, use frozen puffed pastry.
Ingredients
2 tbsps olive oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 tsps cumin
1 1/2 lbs ground beef (we like chuck)
1 tbsps flour
3/4 c pimento stuffed green olives , chopped
1/2 c raisins (you can omit if you don’t like raisins but this really makes them special)
salt and pepper to taste (go easy on the salt because the olives are salty)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
24 empanada wrappers, thawed
5 cups vegetable oil for frying
Method:
Preheat a large frying pan with olive oil over medium heat. Add onions
and cook for about 8 minutes or until slightly soft.
Stir in ground beef and cook, using a wooden or heavy plastic spoon to break up lumps.
Cook until beef is no longer pink, about 8 minutes. Sprinkle in flour to
absorb excess oil. Allow mixture to cool for about 15 minutes.
Stir in the olives, raisins, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and
chopped eggs.
Sprinkle flour on your counter and spread out a few empanada
wrappers. Place a tablespoon of the beef mixture into the center of each
disk. Moisten edges of each disk with a tiny bit of water and fold over
to form a semicircle, then crimp closed with a fork. Keep going until
you have used up all of your wrappers.
Heat vegetable oil in a deep 12-inch skillet or stockpot over medium
heat until it registers 360°F on thermometer. Fry empanadas, 3 at a
time, turning once, until crisp and golden, 6 minutes per batch.
Transfer the cooked empanadas to a baking sheet to keep warm in a 200
degree oven while you fry the remaining empanadas.
If you're not a meat-eater, you can use canned tuna. Simply, drain 2 cans of tuna toss it in with the rest of the ingredients listed above.
When crimping edges, dip the tines of your fork in flour to prevent
sticking.
If you are not a fan of deep frying, brush each empanada with an egg wash, place on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake at 375 degrees for 15-20minutes.
Don’t have a frying thermometer? Simply drop a small piece of the
un-cooked empanada wrapper into the oil. If it sizzles, you know the oil
is hot enough. If it sinks, your oil is still too cold.
For the vegans, finely chop 1 medium onion, 1 clove garlic, 1 red bell pepper, 1 small
zucchini, 2 portobello mushrooms.
Sautee in 2 tbsps olive oil until tender, about 6 minutes. Combine with cumin, salt, pepper, raisins and olives and assemble as stated above.
These freeze well. Place un-cooked empanadas between sheets of waxed paper, wrap with aluminum foil and drop into freezer storage bags. When you feel like an empanada, pop one out and allow to thaw for 10 minutes on your counter before choosing your
cooking method.