Baked Empanadas W Beef Filling Food

BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, scallions, and bell pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add ground beef, oregano, salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin to the onion mixture. Cook and stir beef until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then cover and place in the refrigerator until meat is completely cooled, about 1 hour.
• Remove filling from the refrigerator and transfer into a colander to drain. Return filling to the Dutch oven.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Liberally grease a baking sheet with butter.
• Place about 2 tablespoons filling into the center of an empanada disc. Fold empanada in half into a crescent shape, press the edges of the dough together with a fork or your fingers to seal, and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining empanadas and filling. Brush tops with egg white.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

EMPANADAS (BEEF TURNOVERS)

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes more. Stir in tomato sauce, olives, Sofrito, Sazon, garlic, oregano and black pepper. Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.
• On a lightly floured work surface, using a rolling pin, roll out discos until 1/2-inch larger in diameter. Spoon about 1 tbsp. meat mixture into middle, fold in half to form a half moon; moisten edges with water and pinch to seal closed, or seal with a fork.
• Fill a deep saucepan with oil to a depth of 2 1/2-inches. Heat oil over medium-high heat until hot but not smoking (350 degrees F on deep-fry thermometer). Cook Empanadas in batches until crisp and golden brown, flipping once, 4 - 6 minutes. Transfer to paper towels to drain.

BAKED EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Heat oven to 400 degrees.
• Cook sausage, onion, green pepper and garlic in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until sausage is browned and onion is crisply tender (5 to 6 minutes).
• Drain well.
• Stir in tomato and oregano.
• Set aside.
• Roll 1 sheet puff pastry to 12-inch square.
• Cut into 16 (3-inch) squares.
• Place 1 rounded tablespoon filling in center of each square.
• Fold opposite corners of squares together to form triangles.
• Pinch edges of pastry together; crimp with fork to seal.
• Place triangles onto lightly greased baking sheets.
• Repeat with remaining pastry sheet and filling.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

HOMEMADE BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• First, make the empanada dough so it has time to chill. Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in the butter with your fingertips and work together until mixture resembles cornmeal - no big lumps of butter anywhere. Add the egg and the ice water and mix until dough forms. Form dough into large flat ball, wrap in plastic wrap and set in the fridge to chill for 1 hour.
• While your dough is chilling, make your filling. Heat a pan over medium heat and add your oil. When hot, add the onion and garlic and saute for about 5 minutes, until onion has softened. Add ground beef and cook for another 5 minutes or so, until beef is done. You may drain any extra fat here or leave it in before going on to the next step {I chose to drain the extra fat}.
• Add the cumin, paprika, oregano and salt to the beef mixture, as well as the tomato sauce or puree. Mix well so all is combined then take off the stove and add the chopped hard boiled egg. Stir well and set aside for use in your empanadas.
• After dough has chilled, remove from the fridge. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Roll out empanada dough onto a lightly floured surface until very thin - like pie dough. Cut circles out of the dough using the back of a bowl or a large biscuit cutter. My circles ended up being about 6″.
• Place the circles on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and scoop a small amount of beef filling into the center of each circle. Pinch dough closed with your fingers. Be sure to seal the dough well or else it will leak out while it bakes!
• Mix one egg with a small splash of water. Brush this over sealed empanadas and place in the oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes for small empanadas or 30-35 minutes for large ones. Mine took about 32 minutes.