Little Meat Empanadas: Empanadillas de Carne

Ingredients

Picadillo-filling:

• 1 pound hamburger beef (could also be chorizo, which is Spanish sausage)
• 2 tablespoons cooking oil or olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 small green pepper, chopped
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 small can tomato sauce
• 1 small box raisins
• Chopped olives, to taste
• 1/4 cup (cooking) dry white wine
• Salt and pepper

Directions

The beef should be thawed, if frozen, set aside. In a large saute pan, heat the oil. Add the onion, garlic, and pepper and saute. When they're soft, add the oregano, tomato sauce, raisins, and chopped olives. This should be at medium heat from now on. Add the ground beef.

Pour the wine over the beef mixture and cover to cook through. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Once its almost cooked, uncover, and let dry up to a juicy but dry look to it.

Never use if it is runny. That's the trick.

Pastry:

• 5 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 whole eggs lightly beaten
• 3/4 cups sugar, make a syrup with 1/3 cup water, simmered until sugar dissolves let cool
• 2 ounces melted butter, cooled
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup white dry cooking wine

Sift the flour with the baking powder and the salt. Pour this into a large bowl. Pour in the rest of the ingredients. Work this with a fork, trying to bring together all the ingredients but never beating or mixing. Once it?s all "together" and not sticky...you're ready to make Empanadillas.

ASSEMBLING THE EMPANADILLAS: Prepare your table by spreading some flour to keep the mixture from sticking. You will need a roller, a knife and a fork. Your filling should be at hand. Take a small amount of the flour mixture (a ball that can fit in your hand) and you roll it out in the shape of a plate to a thickness of about 1/8-inch.

Take a spoonful of the filling and place it in the middle half of the pastry and fold the top over the filling to look like a half moon. Seal the inside of the pastry by wetting your fingers with water and rubbing the border of the half moon. Take a knife and cut a perfect pastry half-moon. Now take the fork and press down the borders of the circular shape to seal. Fry the half moon in hot oil.

The recipes for this program, which were provided by contributors and guests who may not be professional chefs, have not been tested in the Food Network?s kitchens. Therefore, the Food Network cannot attest to the accuracy of any of the recipes.