I hope this time the recipe gets posted.
Empanadas Argentinas (Tucumanas)
Empanadas are not a quick fix (at least the traditional ones), you should plan to make them at least one day in advance. Recipe for about 3 dozen of empanadas tucumanas.
Filling ingredients
1 kg of matambre (veal shank)
300 grams of lard (veal, not pork)
1 large onion
4 green onions
Vegetables for a veal broth (1 celery head, 2 carrots, 1 leek, 2 shallots, a bit of parsley)
1 handful of kosher salt
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of Spanish paprika/sweet paprika
½ tablespoon of sugar
4 eggs
1 tablespoon of grounded chili (optional if you don’t like spicy food)
Salt and pepper to taste
Water to prepare veal broth.
Preparation
Trim all fat from veal, save trimmings.
Fill a large pot with water, the trimmed veal, vegetables and kosher salt
Leave pot in medium heat until boiling, let simmer for 90/120 minutes until veal is tender
Remove veal, pat dry and cut in thin stripes, then cut stripes in cubes not larger than 1/6"
Remove solids from pan, sieve broth and keep about three cups for later use
In a medium size sauté pan, heat up the lard (medium heat)
Chop the onion and add to the pan. Sauté until transparent, do not burn it
Add veal trimmings, cumin, paprika and sugar while mixing with wooden spoon
If you like spicy food, add the grounded chili
Incorporate two cups of broth
Add the veal cubes to the pan while mixing thoroughly
Add salt and pepper to the mix, chop green onions and add
While being cooked, the mix will gain consistency and feel sticky, like dough
If too dry, add a tablespoon of broth at a time to keep moist
This cooking is done to create a juicy mix, should last about 20 min under medium heat. A good way to check for "juiciness" is to press the mix with the wooden spoon, if the juices come out of the mix, it is right.
Once the mix is juicy, let it cook for not more than 2 to 3 additional minutes
Remove pan from fire, keep mixing for about 5 min. Let it cool down to room temp.
Put the mix into a bowl and keep it overnight on the refrigerator
The next day, hard boil the eggs chop and add them to the mix.
Dough Ingredients
You can either buy or make the pastry shell, if buying look for "Tapas para Empanadas" in local Latin markets. Traditional good brands are
La Saltena, Blancaflor or
Goya. Look for regular, not flaky tapas. If you’d rather to make the dough from scratch:
1 kg all purpose flour
300 grams of lard (veal, not pork)
2 tablespoons of salt
700 cc of warm water
Preparation
Warm up lard on medium heat until is soft
Lay flour in a flat surface creating a ring
Dissolve salt into warm water
Add the lard to the center of the flour circle and mix adding water gradually
Keep mixing for not more than 10 min. creating a dough cylinder
Cut the cylinder in slices not thicker than 1" each
Not mix each slice thoroughly until dough is soft and shiny
Trim dough so you can make a small dough disk 2" in diameter by 1" tall
Press the flat surface of the disk with your thumb to leave an indentation
Once you have all your disks (about 36) put them in a plastic bag and let them rest
Check them after 30 to 45 min. the indentations should be gone, disks are ready
Stretch each disk with a small rolling pin until getting a flat disk about 5" in diameter
The diameter of each disk will determine how much filling the empanada will get
These disks should be ready for the empanadas, you can let them rest for 30 minutes
Filling and cooking
Warm up oven to 400F
Make sure to keep the mix in the refrigerator until you are ready to fill the empanadas
Lay a disk in your palm, fill half of it leaving the edge clear with 1 - 2 tablespoons of mix
Wet your index finger with water and run it through the edge of the disk
Close the disk edge, lay in a flat surface and press the edge of the empanada with a fork all around. They are ready for baking.
Place empanadas on a slightly greased cookie tray (do not use non-sticking tray)
Bake each batch for about 10 minutes or until pastry looks golden brown.
The baking is done to bring out the meat juices and cook the dough, when rolling the disks is important to have a consistent thickness for even cooking of the shells.
Serve with Cabernet or Malbec, some people sprinkle sugar on them before serving.
I love to keep the leftover ones in the refrigerator and eat them cold the next day.
This is probably the lengthier recipe, you can change the filling by adding olives or raisins or filling them with ham, cheese with oregano. To simplify, some substitute the matambre with grinded beef so there is no need to prepare a broth, but the empanadas will be much drier. Sweet empanadas are filled with dulce de leche.