
An empanada is a hand-held pie filled with a savory meat/cheese/vegetable/something-filling. I thought empanadas were always fried, and not really an everyday food. Turns out many empanadas are baked, not fried. The baked ones can be sandwich-sized, but the fried ones are usually ravioli-sized, so the crust can fry evenly and the insides cook through.
The crust of the empanada is made like pie crust, but with less butter and more milk. Too much butter, although resulting in a flaky crust, would crumble in your hand. So 2 cups flour, 1 tsp salt

I took a Spanish-theme to the filling, boiling ground beef, corn, arbequina olives, chorizo, onions, and garlic in a cup of beef broth until a thick, not too-wet mixture resulted. This got seasoned with smoked paprika, a diced habanero, oregano, thyme, and black pepper. I let this cool, so the hot filling would not melt the butter I had worked into the crust before it got into the oven.
Since the filling was already cooked, I turned the oven to 375 F so I could just crisp up the crust

Richly seasoned and filling, all I need for next time is a bit of salsa or romesco to dip them in. Or a hot, gooey cheese sauce! This recipe seems like a great way to clear the fridge -- chopping up odds and ends and stuffing a hash into savory pastry. Hard to go wrong. For next time, I'm thinking curried shrimp or rosemary ham and veal kidneys.
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