Chilean Empanadas

Recipe Ingredients

		Dough
3 cups	187g / 6.6oz	All-purpose flour
1 teaspoon	5ml	Coarse salt
8 tablespoons	120ml	Unsalted butter - cut in bits
2		Egg yolks
2 tablespoons	30ml	Tarragon vinegar
9 tablespoons	135ml	Cold water
		Filling
1 tablespoon	15ml	Olive oil
1 teaspoon	5ml	Spanish paprika
1/8 teaspoon	0.6ml	Cayenne
2 tablespoons	30ml	Unsalted butter
2 tablespoons	30ml	Onions - chopped fine (medium)
1/2 lb	227g / 8oz	Lean ground beef
1/4 teaspoon	1.3ml	Dried oregano
2 teaspoons	10ml	Coarse salt
1		Bay leaf
1/2 cup	118ml	Beef stock
3 tablespoons	45ml	Seedless raisins
8		Kalamata olives - chopped
1		Hard-boiled egg - chopped
		Glaze
1		Egg yolk
1		Egg
1 tablespoon	15ml	Cold water

Recipe Instructions

Sift the flour and salt into a bowl. Add the butter, egg yolks, and vinegar and mix quickly and thoroughly with your fingertips until all ingredient are well incorporated. Add 5 tablespoons of the water and continue mixing, adding just enough of the remaining water, a little at a time, to make a firm dough. Refrigerate until ready to use.

For the filling, heat the oil and butter in a saute pan. Add the onions and saute over medium heat until light brown around the edges, about 5 minutes. Add the beef, oregano, salt, and bay leaf and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Add the stock and continue cooking until the stock has almost -- but not quite -- evaporated. Mix in the raisins and olives. Remove from the heat and let cool. Stir in the chopped hard-boiled egg. Correct the seasoning with salt to taste. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

On a floured board, roll out the dough about 1/8-inch thick, shaping it into a 16-inch square. Cut out circles about 5-inches in diameter. Knead and re-roll the scraps and cut into additional circles. Place a heaping tablespoon of the meat filling about 1/2-inch from the edge of each circle. Brush the border of the circle with juices from the filling or with water. Fold the dough over to form a half-moon, pressing the edges together with your fingertips or the tines of a fork to seal. Prick the top of each empanada once or twice with the tines of the fork. Repeat this process until all the empanadas are assembled.

Make the glaze by beating the egg yolk and egg with the water.

Spread parchment paper on a baking sheet. Arrange the empanadas on top and brush with glaze. Bake for 30 minutes, or until golden. Remove the baking tray from the oven, and transfer the empanadas to a serving platter or individual plates, and serve hot.

Source:
THE ART OF SOUTH AMERICAN COOKING by Felipe Rojas-Lombardi (c) 1991 - Harper Collins, New York - 504 pages - $25.00 - As reprinted in the Sep/Oct, 1992 issue of Cookbook Digest

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