Pork empanadas
Empanadas, this delicious Spanish and Latin American dish, can use almost any filling one can imagine. They are perfect to take advantage of leftover meat. This version is of Mexican inspiration.
Ingredients
1 tablespoon cooking oil
2 cloves garlic (minced)
4 scallion (finely chopped, including tops)
3⁄4 teaspoon oregano (Mexican oregano, dried, crumbled)
3⁄4 teaspoon cumin (ground)
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 teaspoons sugar
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
2 cups pork (leftover cooked pork or ham, coarsely chopped)
1 cup peas (ir can be leftover cooked, peas, or corn)
1 cup potato (leftover baked potato, coarsely chopped)
1⁄4 cup olive (pimento stuffed green olives, thnly sliced)
1 pound dough (frozen bread dough, thawed if frozen, divided into four)
1 cup yogurt (plain, low fat if preferred)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet, over a medium low heat for 1 minute. Add in the garlic, scallions, oregano cumin and cloves. Saute for 5 minutes. Blend in the tomato paste, salt and the sugar. Add in the pork, peas, potato and olives. Remove from heat.
- Roll out each piece of dough into a 8x6 oval, on a slightly floured surface. Allow it to rest for 10 minutes. Spoon 1 cup of the pork mixture onto the center of each oval. Be sure to leave a 1 inch border around the meat mix. fold the dough over, covering the mixture, and crease the edge, firmly sealing them together.
- Lightly grease a baking sheet and arrange the empanadas so they are not touching. Cover with a dry, clean towel and allow to rest for 20 minutes. Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Brush the tops of the empanadas with water, bake uncovered for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown in color. Serve with dollops of yogurt.
Yield
4 servings
Preparation time
35 minutes
Cooking time
30 minutes
Total time
1 hour, 5 minutes
Notes
Estimated preparation time includes resting time.
If you want a dairy free empanada, substitute yogurt with tomato sauce. Make a large empanada and cut it into portions at serving time, or shape the dough into individual size little empanadas, or even smaller empanadillas, and 2 empanadillas would make a portion.
As we usually have to much meat and the advice is to reduce the portions, why not stretch your pork and use it for two meals?
Source
This is a good recipe for a picnic to to take to a pot-luck dinner.
moderate, bake, meat
leftovers, main meal, dinner, camping
Mexican food recipes
Food in the America
Food in the America