Empanadas de Pino

Empanadas de Pino
Recipe from my daughter Sharron's Chilean friend taken from a google search

Note: Chile has much higher elevation than Toronto, so cooking is different; the person who made them used a recipe taken from a Google Search, so timings might be off; a lot of conversation and taking notes, meant some key elements might be missing...like exactly how many are in a batch, and what temperature/time it takes to make them.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: (Filling - 15-20 minutes; empanadas - 30-60 minutes)
Makes more than 1 dozen, less than 2 dozen

Ingredients:
Filling:
4 large eggs, hardboiled
1 large onion, diced
2 large packages ground beef (maybe 2lb/1 kilo total)
2 beef bouillon cubes dissolved in 350 ml hot water
paprika, chili flakes, oregano and salt to taste
2 garlic cloves, minced

Dough:
4 heaping tbsp’s Crisco (actually she used soup spoons)
2+ cups hot milk (really she used a teacup)
1 large tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
pinch or two paprika
8 cups + white flour
2 egg yolks

1 more egg yolk to mix with water for basting the empanadas before baking

Instructions
For the filling:
(Don’t start the dough until the filling is totally done.)
Fry the onion in olive oil on med-hi heat until golden. Add some chili flakes to the onions as they cook. When the onions are soft and translucent, add the beef, break it up and turn heat down to med-low. Add the garlic, a bunch of salt, lots of dried oregano and the beef broth, stir and let it cook, covered, until the beef is cooked through. Add 3 or 4 heaping tbsp’s white flour and stir it in to thicken the sauce. Remove from heat and allow to cool (actually by the time you've kneaded the dough, the filling is cool enough).

Start the dough:
1. Melt the Crisco in a small pot over med heat. Put the 8 cups flour on a flat working area, mix in the baking powder, salt and paprika and form a bowl shape in the middle of the mound.

2. Heat one cup of milk and pour it along with the melted Crisco into the mound of flour and mush it around with your hands. Add 2 egg yolks and another cup of hot milk.

3. When it’s solid enough, start kneading, adding more milk and flour as needed. When it’s nice and firm (this could take a while), break off manageable pieces at a time and start rolling it out quite thin (3mm? maybe thinner). Keep what you’re not rolling wrapped in plastic wrap to keep it moist.

Baking the empanadas:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F/175C degrees. (Maybe try 400F/200C. Cony’s recipe was 350 for 30-40 minutes and they were nowhere near ready. We turned the heat up and baked them an extra half hour.)

2. Use a small plate to cut out rounds of dough. Peel the boiled eggs and cut them into quarters. Take one round, roll it out a tiny bit. Put one quarter egg, one whole olive (with pit), and a big spoonful of the meat mixture. Keep a cup of warm water nearby to moisten the edges with your fingers. Fold it over and press the edges to seal them, pinch, fold over and pinch again.

3. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet. Keep going with the rest of the filling and dough rounds. Baste with milk and egg yolk mixture.
Bake until golden (30-60 minutes?)

Serve with Pebre (a delicious, spicy condiment)

Pebre also excellent on grilled meat, chicken & fish

Ingredients
2 peeled tomatoes, diced
1 medium onion, diced
4 tbsp chopped cilantro, chopped fine
1 jalapeno chopped finely
½ tbsp salt
2 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp oil

Directions:
Mix it all up and serve it as a condiment for empanadas