Tasty Tuesdays - Spanish Food Cravings

One of my passions is cooking. Last night for dinner I made an old family recipe. It is not one of the healthiest meals I make but it is oh so yummy and usually a hit with kids. Hope you love it!

Grandma Stella's Empanadas

Makes approx 20 empanadas (average adult can eat between 2-3)



Ingredients



approx 3 lbs. ground beef

1 onion

1/2 - 1 green bell pepper

3 cloves

olive oil

2tsp cumin powder or Goya Adobo w/cumin

1 tsp oregano

1-2 8 oz. cans tomato sauce

2 10 count packages of discos para empanadas (La Fe cook the best but Goya work to. They can be found in the ethnic food freezer section)

2 chopped hard boiled eggs (optional)

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped olives

Vegetable or Canola Oil

***This is the first written version of this recipe so all of the measurements are approximations. Feel free to adjust any of the amounts!***

Finely chop the onions, garlic and bell pepper. Saute in 1-2 Tbsp. olive oil until tender. Approx 5 minutes. Add the chopped meat, cumin powder and oregano. Cook until beef is browned. Drain excess fat. Add the tomato sauce. Make sure you add enough so that the meat looks moist but not so much that it looks soupy. I wish I could give you a more exact amount of tomato sauce to use but it seems to vary every time I make this dish. Mix in the eggs, olives and raisins

You can save the meat to make empanadas another day or just let it cool enough so your hands don't get burned when you handle it. Roll one of the empanada discs out to about 6 inches in diameter. Place 2-3 TBSP. of meat mixture on the lower half of the disc. Fold the disc over and crimp edges with a fork. Repeat with all of the discs. Fry in your choice of oil until golden brown on each side or bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Enjoy!

****In my family everybody likes/dislikes different ingredients in their empanadas. My mom used to wait to add the eggs, olives and raisins until she was about to close the pastry disc. She would then make our first initial and place it on the empanada made for us with a cut up piece of pastry disc. This is always on option but more time consuming. At my house everyone gets the same and none of them have eggs because I don't like them!****