Venezuelan Empanada Filling Recipes

VENEZUELAN TURNOVERS - EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Step 1 Season meat with Adobo. In skillet, heat oil on medium high. Cook meat until pink is gone. Stir in onion, pepper, garlic, Alcaparrado, tomato sauce and Sazón. Cook, stirring often until most of the liquid has evaporated (about 20 minutes). Cool. Step 2 Prepared dough should be moist and should hold together, but it should not stick to your fingers. Start with about ½ cup of dough and roll into a ball between palms of your hands. Working on a sheet of non-stick parchment paper, form the ball into a 5-inch circle about ⅛ inch thick. Place a generous tbsp. of filling on one half of circle and using parchment paper close dough over to form a semi-circle. To seal and trim edges of the empanada, press lip of inverted bowl over semi-circle shaped patty. Repeat for all the Empanadas. Step 3 In large skillet on medium high, heat ½ inch of oil until hot but not smoking. Cook empanadas in batches, turning once or twice until lightly browned. Drain on paper towel. Do not over crowd skillet or let oil get too hot.

VENEZUELAN EMPANADA FILLING

Steps:

• 1. In a large frying pan, heat the oil over medium heat. Add the pork, oregano, cumin, salt, and black pepper and cook, breaking up the meat, until the pink color disappears. 2. Place the onion, tomatoes, bell pepper, garlic, and capers in a blender or food processor and process until smooth. Add the puree to the meat along with the muscatel, olives, and currants and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated but the mixture is still moist. Taste for salt. Remove from the heat, let cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight to let the flavors develop. 4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. 5. Just before baking, brush the empanadas with the egg mixture and bake on the upper oven rack until lightly colored, about 20 minutes. Be careful: overcooking will dry out the filling. Serve warm. NOTE These empanadas freeze very well unbaked. Freeze on baking sheets lined with waxed paper until hard, then transfer to covered containers. You can pop them in the oven frozen; just increase the baking time by 5 minutes.