Ok, quick how to here:

1. make pie crust or puff pastry.
2. make a kick ass beef stew, as in the christmas hallacas one.
3. combine and bake.

Tools:

Rolling pin.
Cutting board.
Round cutting object… coffee can for example, or go fancy and get them round cutters at the store.
Fork
Spoon
Small container for some water.
Baking rack.
Hot oven, 415f.

Here’s a visual step by step:

Get your ready-2-go pie crust or puff pastry dough (I used pie crust):

Use what you need, shape into a cylinder and then cut in 1 inch portions. I’m making empanadas as appetizers, so they are small. Adjust to your liking. Bigger ones, smaller ones, it’s all fair game:

I have limited counter top space, have this annoying tiled one, so I can’t really roll out anything bigger than my cutting board. Shape the dough portion into a ball:

Roll it out with your pin to a 1 or 2 millimeter sheet. I prefer 1mm:

Using whatever cutting instrument you have to get the round shape, in my case, an old coffee can:

Reserve the surplus dough, it can be reused, reshaped into more workable sheets, nothing should go to waste:

Scoop a spoon full of filling, and place onto the round sheet. Filling should be cold, and not too watery, make sure your beef stew is on the dry end and chilled. Wet stuffing will leak and ruin the empanada:

Get your index finger in some water and wet the edge of the round sheet. This will seal the empanada perfectly. Some use egg wash, water is really all you need. The dough will come together and glue itself down:

More of the same:

With a fork, press down on the edge of the dough, both to seal even further and for presentation purposes:

Keep working your way along the edge:

Until the packet is fully sealed:

Here’s the little guy ready for some oven time:

Prep as many as you like:

In a hot oven… 415f in the case of mine… bake for about 15-20 minutes… I didn’t time it. I checked a couple of time until they looked golden and pretty.

done.

Wanna get more sous-vide cooking guides and cool cooking how-to’s in your mailbox? You know what needs to be done!

We never spam. You should only be getting updates when new content is posted on the site. We also respect your privacy. We don’t share your email address with anyone and you can unsubscribe anytime!