What’s Cookin’ in the Country?

Ground Beef was an easy choice for dinner one night last week, but the question was – “How do I use it?”  I could have gone with tacos or Sloppy Joe’s, but I wanted something a little more unique.  Then the word, “Empanada” came to mind.  I did a quick search on the internet and I used this recipe, which I tweaked a little for my own preferences and according to what I already had on hand.

What is an Empanada?  It’s a hand-held meat pie.  You can add veggies as you like, but the meat also contains spices to give it flavor and depth.  A purchased pie crust would work fine, but I like making crusts, so I made my own early in the day and refrigerated them until it was time to roll them out.

A great thing about this recipe is that you can make up the Emapanada, then pop them into the freezer until you need them!  This would make a really fast supper!  Pop it into the oven to bake and make a salad while they’re cooking and Voila!  Dinner is ready!

Here’s how they’re made:

Beef Empanadas

• 1 package of pre-made pie crust (2 rolls)
• 1 Tablespoon of oil
• 1 pound of hamburger
• 1/4 cup diced onions
• 1/2 medium diced bell pepper, any color
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoons minced garlic
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 teaspoon chili pepper
• 1 cup Mexican blended cheese
• 1 egg

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375*
2. Combine bell pepper, onion, garlic and oil and saute 3 minutes over medium heat.
3. Add hamburger, cumin and chili pepper to the pan and cook until meat is cooked through.
4. Set pan aside and let cool.
5. While meat mixture is cooling, roll out pie crust.
6. Using a bowl or large circle cutter, cut out 6″ round discs from pie crust. You should be able to get 3 from each crust making 6 total with a 7th created out of the leftover dough rolled out. I have a round cutter/crimper from Pampered Chef that I used.
7. Place 2 – 3 Tablespoons of mixture in the center of each pie disc.
8. Top with cheese.
9. Fold over and seal edges with a fork.
10. Place Empanadas on a cookie sheet.
11. Beat egg and brush on to tops of each Empanada.
12. Bake in oven for 15 – 20 minutes.

If you were going to freeze these, stop at #10 and wrap in freezer wrap.  When it’s time to bake them, you could place a frozen Empanada on the baking sheet, brush with the egg, then bake until done (which may take a little longer than the normal 15-20 minutes).

Have you ever had or made these before?  I hope you’ll try this recipe!

With love from my country kitchen,