Chilean "Empanadas de Pino" for Aloha

This recipe is for 18 to 24 units of our traditional oven-baked empanadas:

Ingredients for the dough:

1 Kg sifted flour (9 to 10 cups)
4 teaspoons baking powder
180 gr. shortening
1 1/2 cups hot water with 1 flat tablespoon salt
1/2 cup white wine
2 yolks
1 additional yolk to be mixed with 2 tablespoons of milk to "paint" the empanadas (that gives them a beautiful satin-gold color)

Ingredients for the "Pino" (filling):

100 gr. shortening (approx. 4 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon dry ground paprika
1/2 Kg ground or chopped beef
4 regular size chopped onions
salt
pepper
cummin
aji (Chili pepper)
1 1/2 cups meat broth
1 tablespoon flour
2 to 3 boiled eggs (sliced)
1 black olive per empanada (i.e, 18 to 24 olives)
3 raisins per empanada
I always add a bit of sugar to "soften" the onions

This Pino is ideally prepared the previous day.

Preparation of the Pino:

Melt the shortening, add the paprika and mix well. Use half of the previous mix to fry the beef and the other half to fry the onions until they acquire a cristaline appearance. Mix the frie onions and beef. Add salt, pepper and the hot meat broth, as well as the flour dissolved in a bit of cold water and mix well. Let this preparation kook on medium fire for some 10 minutes and then store once it has cooled down.

Preparation of the dough and the final empanada:

Place the sifted flour & baking powder on a clean surface (pastry board or kitchen table), forming a "vulcano". Pour the hot melted shortening inside the "crater" and mix with both hands until you obtain a "sandy" mixture. Add the wine, yolks and hot-salted water gradually, kneding until you obtain a homogeneus dough. Let the dough rest for some 15 minutes, covering it with a kitchen cloth to keep it warm.

Take the necessary dough for just one empanada at the time (the size of a tennis ball) and keep the rest of the dough covered. Knede each portion and form a ball. Use a rolling pin to extend the dough to a 20 cm diameter and 1/2 cm thick disk.

Place two spoons of Pino in the center of the disk and add 1 olive, 1 slice boiled egg and 2 to 3 raisins. Fold the disk in such way the top is some 2 cm shorter than the bottom part of the dough. Moisten with water and fold twice, gently applying some pressure for the two layers to stick together. Make two or three small punctures close to the folds. "Paint" the empanada with the yolk/milk mixture and finally place the empanada on a clean, dry oven-tray.

Bake for approximately 30 minutes at medium+ heat.

Best if eaten hot and accompanied with some good red wine.


Edited to replace "meat soup with meat broth" and "uslero with rolling pin". Thanks for helping me Kim and eje!


This message was edited Aug 12, 2004 2:22 PM