Empanadas

Tonight's dinner took me an hour to prepare, and I almost didn't post the recipe. However, the fact that Mark and I have dinner for three nights made me reconsider. And it was so good!

The night before you make empanadas, you'll want to prepare the yogurt dough. If you're wondering why you're mixing yogurt and flour, check out this previous post.
1 c plain yogurt
1 c butter, softened
3.5 c spelt or wheat flour
2 t sea salt
unbleached white flour

This recipe makes enough for two 10" pie shells. I've used it for pizza dough too.

1. Cream together yogurt and butter, and add flour and salt.

2. Cover and leave in a warm place for 12 - 24 hours. I usually preheat the oven while I'm preparing the dough, turn it off, and stick it in there if it's cold in my kitchen.

3. Roll out the dough using some white flour to keep from sticking. If you are going to make prebaked pie crusts, put in a cold oven, turn on to 350, and bake for 20-30 minutes.

Empanadas
2 lbs ground beef
lard or olive oil
cumin
1 onion, chopped
2 peppers, preferably different colors
5 cloves of mashed, chopped garlic
3 carrots, grated or chopped
2 cups cooked corn and/or peas
1.5 c brown rice (prepared with chicken stock)

spices
i used dried basil and dried oregano, but you could use fresh if on hand - parsley, chives, green onions, cilantro

The recipe calls for 2 recipes yogurt dough, though I used one, and will happily eat the left over beef and rice mixture sans dough.

1. Saute beef in some lard or olive oil, mixed with cumin.

2. Put cooked beef in a LARGE bowl when browned.

3. Saute onion and pepper in the beef pan. Add carrots, garlic, more cumin and salt. Saute a bit more til soft.

4. Put vegetables, including corn/peas, rice, and spices in the bowl with the beef. Mix til combined.

5. Make 1 inch ball of dough and roll into a 6" round.

6. Place scoop of filling in the center, fold pastry in half, and pinch edges together. Repeat until all dough is gone.

7. Bake at 350 until lightly browned. You can individually wrap any extra empanadas and freeze.