The Real Empanada

There is no escaping empanadas here in Uruguay. Most panaderias and rotiserias offer at least a couple of flavors – the typical ones are jamon y queso and, of course, carne. Additionally, there are several places near us that do nothing but empanadas. Unfortunately, they are often fried, without fail have bland insides, or are made from pre-fab, pasty dough. So, empanadas everywhere and not a good one to be had. So sad. However, I suspect that excellent ones are to be had from the home kitchens of many Uruguayans. The best empanadas I have had here (and I have tried many) came from a sweet, no-nonsense Uruguayan grandmother who had wrung the neck of one of her backyard geese just that morning so he could come to dinner in the form of empanada stuffing. And oh were those some tasty empanadas.

Cesar and I have no desire to sacrifice any geese for our home-made empanadas, so we chose ground beef as the star of our filling. We work as a team when it comes to empanadas (and most things). I am in charge of the flaky crust, and he, the tasty inside (that is best left to a Peruvian).

This is a good bit of work – not as labor intensive as croissants, for example, but a bit more complicated than sloppy joes. However, put in the effort (a rainy day is the ideal time, what else are you going to do?) and you will be rewarded.

First comes the pie crust… Say to yourself now: Pie crust is my friend. I do not fear pie crust. With only four ingredients, how hard can it be? To achieve a flaky pie crust, the secret is to just barely combine the ingredients. Do not overwork them or you will destroy the layers of butter which are responsible for creating crispy, flaky layers.

You will need:
· 200 grams (1 ¼ cups) of all-purpose, or pastry flour (in Uruguay, I use 0000)
· ¼ teaspoon salt
· 140 grams (10 tablespoons) of cold unsalted butter,
· 7 to 9 tablespoons of ice water

Method:
Cut cold butter into ½ inch pieces and place in a bowl in the freezer. You don’t want to freeze them, just make sure they are nice and cold so they won’t melt on you as you work with the dough.

Meanwhile, measure the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Add the cold butter cubes, toss to coat with the flour, then use a pastry blender or two knives to cut them into the flour mixture until cut into fine pieces.

Then, a little at a time, sprinkle in the ice-water while tossing the mixture with a fork. It will begin to barely hang together, but there will be a lot of loose pieces still. It will not be a solid mass. To the extent that you can, gather this into a ball and place it on a piece of plastic wrap large enough to wrap around it. Gather up the corners of the wrap to help you shape the dough into a disk. Press down on the top and sides of the disk to help the dough come together. Have faith, it will come together in the end. Store this in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.

For the filling, you will need:
· 1 pound of ground beef
· ½ of a large onion (white or yellow will do)
· 1 teaspoon of ground cumin
· 1 teaspoon of paprika
· ¼ to ½ teaspoon of salt
· ¼ to ½ teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper
· 2 ounces of pitted Kalamata-type olives, chopped
· 4 ounces of raisins
· A bit of red wine

Method:

Chop the onion into fine pieces and sauté until slightly translucent. Add the ground beef and cook over high heat until brown. Add a splash of red wine to deglaze the pan. Stir, reduce heat to medium, add remaining ingredients and cook until beef is cooked through and the raisins are plump. Allow this to cool a bit as you retrieve your pie crust from the fridge.

Rolling the dough and assembling the empanadas:

Unwrap the dough and place it on a floured surface. I use a pastry cloth to guarantee the dough will not stick to the surface. Roll the dough out to about 3/16 inch thickness. Use a biscuit cutter to cut the dough into 5 inch rounds. Spoon a bit of the filling onto one half of a round. Then fold the round over into a semi-circle shape while using your fingertips to keep the filling away from the edge of the dough circle. Crimp the edges with a fork. You will have about 15 of these. Place them on a parchment lined sheet. For best results, refrigerate them for 20-30 minutes before baking. Just before baking, beat one egg and using a pastry brush (fingers work fine too), apply a thin coating of this egg wash to the top of each empanada. Pop them into a 400 °F / 204 °C oven, bake 5 minutes and reduce the heat to 350 °F / 176 °C and bake for 15 minutes longer until slightly browned.

Buen provecho.