My good friend, Aurora, is from Mendoza, and her recipe for beef empanadas is the one printed, below. When she invites us over for dinner we arrive early so that we can all sit around the table, drink wine, talk, and help to form the empanadas. We've also made chicken empanadas, spinach empanadas, and even once, I made leek and prosciutto empanadas, which were delicious, too. Here's a picture of a spinach empanada for my vegetarian friends:
First, we suggest you buy pre-made dough discs to make the empanadas. You could make the dough yourself, roll each circle out and then make the empanadas, but I've found that unless you are really good with making and rolling out thin dough, the pre-made and pre-rolled discs work very nicely and are much easier to handle. The pre-made discs can usually be found at many "international stores" that offer Latin and Asian foodstuffs. If you can't find them locally, you can order the ones that we use from this website: http://www.amigofoods.com/lasatapaem.html - here they can be purchased as an order of 4 packages. We usually use one or 2 packages, then freeze the others to use later. Thaw completely before using them to form the empanadas. In a pinch, you could use pre-formed chinese egg roll dough discs, but they don't bake as nicely as the ones mentioned here.
The first step is to make the meat stuffing (see recipe below), and cool in the refridgerator. We've found that cooking the meat filling the day before and leaving it to rest in the refridgerator overnight seems to allow all the flavors of the meat, onions and spices to brew together for a more tasty empanada.
When you are ready to form the empanadas, start by making 2 hard boiled eggs, cool and peel them, and slice lengthwise into 1/4 inch slices, and then cut each slice into quarters again. You should have a bunch of small thumbnail size pieces of hard boiled yellow and white. Then slice about 5 olives into 3/4 inch slices, about 4 to 6 slices from each olive. Place the sliced olives in a bowl; place the slices eggs into another small bowl.
Now comes the fun part -- Open a bottle of Mendoza Malbec to breathe and share, and have ready a few appetizers so that the workers won't be tempted to eat the sliced olives! Place the small reserved bowls of raisins, egg and olives in the middle of a table. For each person who will be helping to make the empanadas, place a small bowl of about 1/2 cup tepid water next to a cutting board or something that will protect the table while the workers are forming the empanadas. Have ready 3 or 4 cookie sheets covered with parchment paper, to lay the empanadas on when made, for baking.
Remove the meat filling from the fridge and stir it well to evenly incorporate all the juices. Place the bowl of meat somewhere on the table where everyone is able to reach it with a few soup spoons. Hold one dough disc in the palm of your hand. Spoon a heaping tablespoon (but not too much!) of meat filling into the center of the disc, then place 1-3 raisins (if you didn't add them to the meat when you made the filling) or 1 slice of olive and 1 slice of egg in the center. Dip your finger into the bowl of water and use your finger to moisten the edges of one half side of the disc. Carefully fold the dough in half to make a crescent and seal the edges with your fingers, making a "pie crust" crimp to hold the 2 dough sides together. Some people like to just pinch them closed, but my daughter makes very nice evenly rolled crimps on the ones that she makes. It's fun to see how everyone makes a different appearing edge; it's also fun to know which ones you made and into which ones you put 4 pieces of olives! Place the formed empanada on its side on the parchment covered baking sheet, have a sip of wine, and make another one.
After the empanadas are formed and laying on the sheet, whisk an egg and a tablespoon of water in a small bowl or cup. With a pastry brush, brush the egg/water mixture only the top half of the empanada and over the crimped edge ( but not on both sides or they will stick to the parchment) so that they will brown nicely.
Bake at 400 for about 12 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven. (I've heard others bake at 375 for 20 minutes) They should be nicely browned, but not pale, and not burnt. Since the filling is already cooked, the baking is done to crisp up the dough. Sometimes she makes them ahead of time, freezes them in plastic baggies, and then thaws them, sticks them all in a pan to reheat and serves them. They freeze and reheat very well, I can't really tell the difference, but Aurora says she can tell.
To make 20 empanadas:
Ingredients:
1 large onion, sliced and cut up fine (or 2 medium)
1 clove garlic, chopped (optional)
1 lb ground beef (sirloin, 94%)
1 & 1/2 tsps cumin
2 tsps paprika (or more, the meat should turn a bit red when you mix it in...if it doesn't look red, use more)
salt to taste
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper (Aji molido) - or more, if you like them spicy.
1 package La Saltena empanada dough
2 hard boiled eggs, sliced (can be omitted)
5 green olives, sliced - (can be omitted if you don't like olives)
20-60 raisins, depending on how much you like raisins
1 egg, whisked with 1 T water, reserved
Fry the onion in the olive oil, and before they are done, add the (optional) garlic and the ground beef. Completely cook the meat, stirring and breaking up the meat until no pink is seen and the meat is crumbly with no big chunks. Add cumin and paprika; salt to taste. If desired, the raisins can be added at this point to plump them up. This is also a good idea if the meat appears to be very watery. Simmer 15 minutes, uncovered. Note: the filling is best if made the day before and left to rest and cool overnight in the fridge. When you are ready to form the empanadas, remove from the fridge and stir the mixture well to re-incorporate all the juices.
Form the empanadas as directed above, adding the raisins, olives, and/or eggs as directed. Brush one side only of the empanadas with the egg wash.
Bake 400 for 12 to 15 minutes, or until nicely browned.
Serve with a salad, or rice or potato dish. Goes well with Malbec or Cabernet Sauvignon wine or a nice white tea mixed with Mate ( http://www.teavana.com/?SC=AFGI&cm_mmc=GAN-_-It%20all%20started%20when....-_-j29581893k378086-_-Primary&clickid=0004a79674e0f9ac0aec720843ca0221), my favorite is white ayurvedic/samurai mate. For wine, we like Trapiche Cabernet Sauvignon or Finca del Origen Malbec; both from Mendoza.
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