Wednesday, December 14, 2011

Empanadas Del Gringo

Take another look at the name of the recipe. Got that? Just what it says. So I don't want to hear it from some know-it-all who claims I'm "DOING IT WRONG." No, there are no raisins, no hard boiled egg, and NO MAYO. Deal with it.

So says the gringo.


Anyway! Three cups of flour, six ounces of butter (frozen, hacked into chunks), an egg, and a pinch of salt. Add dry ingredients to a food processor, add egg, whirl, add chunks of butter, and then drizzle cold water until the dough looks stiff and lumpy. You don't want it sticky. If it is, add more flour.
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Remove dough from processor, form into a ball, and stash it in the fridge for 30 minutes.
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Time for the filling. You know the drill. Onion, garlic, hot pepper. Also: cumin, chili powder, paprika, oregano, thyme.
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Fry up a pound of ground meat (this is turkey thighs -- HEY! What did I tell you? Gringo, remember?), add some salt, and the herbs and spices.
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Remove, and in the same pan sauté the veggies. Oh, did I mention I'm using bacon fat? Oh, yeah.
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Garlic comes last, remember. Don't want that to burn.
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Return the meat, and splash on some Worcestershire sauce, and some lemon and lime juice.
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Take another egg, separate egg from yolk, and whisk both (yolk shown has not been whisked).
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Ok, now the hard work. Take some dough, roll it out thin (1/8 of an inch, or so), and use some sort of template to cut a circle out of it, about four inches in diameter.
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Add some of the filling, wipe some of the egg white around the edges, fold it over, and crimp the seam with a fork. I won't lie to you. These last two steps take a bit of time.
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Take the beaten yolk, and brush them over the tops. Then bake at 400 for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown.
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Serve with wine and vegetables (shown: grilled asparagus).
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