Empanada Night

Empanada Night!! They took forever with my two left hands, but were delicious. Some things are worth waiting for an 8:30 dinner time. Maybe this is why Argentina eats so late.

Empanadas de Carne
makes 12-16

Dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 stick unsalted butter
1 t salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg

Put everything in the food processor and pulse until crumbles are formed. Ball the dough into a, well, ball, and put in fridge while you work on the other stuff.

Picadillo:
1 lb ground beef
1 onion, diced
1/2 cup roasted red peppers, chopped finely
6 seville olives, halved
2 t paprika
2 t dried oregano
1 t cumin
1 t red pepper flakes
salt and pepper

Brown the ground beef, drain fat. Saute onions until translucent, and add to beef. Stir in the rest of the ingredients. Set aside to let cool.

Putting them all together:
1 egg, white and yolk separated (white=glue, yolk=varnish)

Preheat oven to 400.

Roll out the ball of dough into a thin layer and then using a small bowl, or a cutout if you're dorky enough to own proper tools, cut circles of about 3-4 inches in diameter.

Spoon about 1 tablespoon of picadillo onto each dough round, making sure to top each with an olive half. Dip your finger into the egg white and run it around the circumfrence of the dough. Fold the dough over and press edges together to seal. Feel free to do something fancy with the edges and fork tines, I didn't bother. Brush the tops with the beaten egg yolk.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are nicely golden brown. Empanadas are best piping hot, right out of the oven. Thanks to Miriam in CA and laylita.com for my empanada education.