When Natalie makes empanadas, she eyeballs the ingredients and makes them just right. After numerous occasions of carefully watching her work, I've made some estimations of her recipe. While not as good as Natalie's, they are still some of the best Empanadas I've ever eaten!
Ingredients
- 1/2 - 1 Vidalia onion diced
- 1 TBS diced garlic
- 2 lbs ground beef
- 2 TBS tomato paste
- 2 tsp Italian herbs
- 1 beef bouillon cube
- 3 TBS Spanish party olives diced
- 1 28 oz can tomato sauce
- 1/2 cup golden raisins
- 1 Bay leaf
- 1 egg
- Empanada disks (Goya disks for baking are my favorite)
Instructions
- Heat oil in a large frying pan, add the diced onions and crushed garlic. Cook until the onions are soft.
- Add the ground beef, stir and cook until the meat is fulling cooked.
- Add the Italian spices, tomato paste and salt/pepper.
- Add olives, raisins, tomatoe sauce, boullion
- Simmer until most of the juice has cooked off, but it is still a little juicy.
- Taste and adjust salt/pepper and any seasonings to your personal preference.
- Let the beef filling cool down completely before using to fill the empanadas.
- Lightly wet the edges of each empanada disk.
- Place a generous amount of the beef filling on the center of an empanada disc.
- Fold the empanada discs and gently seal the edges with your fingers. Then twist and fold the edges of the empanadas with your fingers. (Youtube Tutorial)
- Brush the empanadas with the whisked egg/water mixture
- Pre-heat the oven to 400F (200C)
- Bake on a cookie sheet for approximately 20 minutes, or until golden on top.
