Empanadas - Baked And Fried

One of the nice things about Mexican stuffed dishes, like these and chili rellenos, is that you can use about anything you like in them.  I’d seen empanada’s several times lately on various blogs and have been waiting for some pulled pork to make them – it showed up this last BBQ day.

As it turned out, we had some pie dough in the fridge needing to be used and when I asked Bev what size cookie cutters she had for it, she said “why not use our empanada maker” – we have an empanada maker?  I got them out and discovered we have one that's smaller than I wanted and one that’s larger than I wanted but I went with it. 

As a guide, I used Jenn’s recipe for Chorizo Empanadas over at Jenn’s Food Journey.  One of my criteria was to use some of the poblano peppers we’d roasted and frozen last fall and based somewhat upon my ABT’s my recipe became:

2 refrigerated pie crusts

6 poblano peppers, split, stemmed, and seeded

½ lb. pulled pork at room temperature, chopped to size of choice

1 clove garlic, minced

¼ cup onion - red and scallions, small chop

¼ cup multi colored sweet peppers, small diced

1 tbsp. butter, melted

3 oz. cream cheese at room temperature

½ cup shredded cheddar at room temperature

½ tsp. Head Country Seasoning

1 tsp. mustard

1 tsp. mayo

Cook the onion and sweet pepper until softened, add the garlic and cook until fragrant.  Stir in the meat just to warm it a little - makes it easier to mix in the cheeses.

Mix the last 5 ingredients in a separate bowl then mix with the meat mixture.

Use the bottom of the empanada maker to cut the dough then put it on top of the maker and brush the edges with water.  Lay in one poblano and top with the meat mixture - 1/3 cup for this 6” size.  this was the first one and I used 1/2 cup which squished out and cracked the crust - the left one on the plate.

  Use the maker to fold and seal.

For baked ones, brush both sides with butter and bake at 375* until crust is a golden brown.  We served it with a little jarred salsa.

We were too full to try the fried ones and saved them for St. Patrick's Day breakfast.  We nuked them for about 30 seconds to take the chill off, then deep fried at 365* until golden brown - about 5 minutes.

 

While the baked one was good and no doubt healthier, it wasn't in the same league with the fried one, so I'll cut my fat calories somewhere else.  It didn't need any sauce and the filling was killer, as I thought it would be.   For some reason my poblanos were unusually hot last year and no other heat was required - it lit my mouth up pretty good, partially because the ripe ones are always hotter.

This amount of meat mix and dough will make six 6" empanadas - I made five for reasons I won't go into.  The maker worked great and I will definitely use it again and try the smaller one for raviloi.

All photos can be enlarged by clicking on them.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

One year ago: Baby Let Me Be Your Salty Dog

Two years ago: The Final Mushroom Meal

Larry

3/16 & 3/17/2012  meal dates