empanaditas

Tuesday evening I made one of my favorite yet most time-consuming Cuban dishes, empanaditas. These tasty meat and veggie filled patties are traditionally made using a pie crust type dough. I found a recipe forever ago that used won ton skins baked in the oven to replace the normally fried dough. This made these tasty treats relatively healthy. I've been playing around with the filling ever since. Since these are so time consuming, I recommend wrangling someone to help with the stuffing & sealing. Solo, it took me about an hour and a half to put these in the oven.


pen loves paper's Empanaditas (beef or chicken)

1 cup very finely chopped red potato, skin on
1 cup very finely chopped onion
1 cup beef broth (or chicken broth if you are using chicken)
1/4 teasp salt
1/2 teasp cumin
1/4 teasp allspice (omit if you are using chicken)
1/4 teasp black pepper
1/2 lb boneless sirloin, trimmed and very finely diced (or chicken breast)
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
2 tblsp finely chopped cilantro

1/2 tblsp cornstarch
1/2 tblsp water
about 45 won ton wrappers (found in the veggie area of the grocery)
2 oz. shredded cheddar cheese

Bring first 10 ingredients to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Reduce heat and simmer 5-7 minutes or until potatoes are done, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and drain in a colander. Cool.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put a baking sheet in the oven to heat up (this is the key to making these empanaditas crispy.)

Combine cornstarch and water in a small finger bowl with a spoon. Open the won ton wrappers and work with one or two at a time. Leave the rest under a damp kitchen towel so they don't dry out (and they are really tricky to work with if they get brittle so don't skip this step.) Spoon one teaspoon of the drained meat and potato mixture into the middle of each won ton wrapper and top with a pinch of cheese. Moisten two of the edges of the won ton wrapper with the cornstarch mixture. Bring 2 opposite corners together to form a triangle. Pinch the edges together firmly with your fingers (really make sure they are mashed together or you will have filling all over your oven!) Place the filled triangle onto a plate.

Once you have about 18 empanaditas ready, carefully take out the baking sheet and add the empanaditas, leaving space between them. Place them in the oven for about 4-5 minutes (be really careful about this step.) Pull them out, flip them over, and place them back in the oven for another 4 minutes or until they are golden brown. Place baked empanaditas on a plate to cool for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile, continue making triangles until you have no more filling. Repeat baking step one to two more times. I can usually get 42-45 empanaditas out of this recipe.