My beef, pepperoni and cheese Empanadas

   

ok, straight into it, I'm not going to make you read paragraphs of my hopes, dreams, aspirations or thoughts about my version of empanadas.  There are videos, which are linked, here's the ingredients, quickie method and then you can start making yours.

TRACY'S EMPANADAS

DOUGH (dump in a food processor, you can make it by hand if you don't have one)

2 cups all purpose flour
pinch salt
tsp baking powder
1/3 cup ice water mixed with an egg

Dump it all in the food processor, pulse till it's a dough, divide in two, wrap each half, toss in fridge or freezer till you want them.  DONE :)

FILLING *this time it's beef, pepperoni and cheese but you can fill these with ANYTHING

a little oil for the pan
1 lb of ground beef
1 carrot, onion, celery, large garlic clove, chopped small
tomato paste
salt, pepper
italian season blend or whatever herbs/spiced you love
aleppo pepper if you have any, gives a lovely flavor without too much heat

Throw it all in a frying pan, fry till the meat is brown and the veggies are a little soft and the tomato paste is brown.  Add enough water to make a loose mixture.  Cover and simmer about 20, leave to cool, throw in a bag in the fridge till you want it.  Freezes great!! DONE

*shred some mozzarella cheese or whatever cheese you like, put in a ziplock and keep it in the fridge till you're ready.


THE CREATION

Roll half the pastry on a lightly floured board, this stuff is super easy to deal with.

Cut into 6 inch circles, reroll and cut as you need.  I get 4 from each half of dough with a little waste or I make smaller ones with the leftover pastry and filling.

Fill each round with some cheese and a scoop of the cold meat filling.  I use a 2 inch ice cream scoop.

Fold each round and pinch closed.  Either press with a fork to seal or go fancy and roll the edges.

Egg wash each empanada and bake on a parchment lined pan, Preheated 400 oven for 20 mins or so, until lightly browned and heated through, remember the filling is cooked.

EAT! or cool and freeze for another day if you can hide any from your family, or, preferably, just eat them... all!

Here's the links to the videos:

Empanada dough:

Empanada filling:

Empanada bake and the reveal



/thanks for your support, and enjoy!

Leftovers Quiche, yes, another one. IF you have food leftover, chop it up, throw it in a pastry lined dish, add eggs, bake and VOILA...FOOD

I like quiche and it seems I send more out than I make to eat in, a fact I intend on rectifying in the immediate future.

I cooked breakfast at a Masonic Lodge on the weekend and there was bits and pieces left over.  I offered to take it home and transform it in quiches for their meeting tonight.

It's quick, easy and I am going to keep a 'quiche bowl' in the fridge so that food from the week, not enough to make a meal from, will be put in and turned in quiche as soon as I have enough "stuff".

In the mean time, here's my updated quiche and press in crusty recipe:

QUICHE, FROM LEFTOVERS IN A PRESS IN CRUST

EASY, QUICK, DELICIOUS
(and no rolling pastry out!)

Press in pastry first:

IN  pie plate:
1 1/2 cup a/p flour
pinch of salt
pinch of sugar
1/2 cup plain oil
1 T (generous) milk

Mix the dry, add the wet, mix with fork until crumbly and press into the pie plate.  Do an arty edge if you're in the mood :)

            

I pop it in the fridge while I deal with the innards. 

Ok, Filling.  Chop up whatever you have to put in your quiche.  I have ham, fried onions, fried green peppers, sausages, hash browns, tomatoes, cheese. That's going to make some pretty yummy man quiches :)   Divide the fillings between the quiches if you're making more than one or just load up the one you're making.  

   

NOW the eggs.  I'm making 3 quiches so that's 18 eggs, luckily donated from the breakfast.  I use 6 eggs per quiche.  In my gigantic bowl, I mix:

18 eggs

2 cups milk

1/2 cup half and half (because I didn't have cream)

salt, pepper, thyme, nutmeg (a few grates)

Mix like mad and divide between the quiches.

   

They looked bland so I put the sliced tomatoes on top... oh lovely

 

BAKE at 400 for 15 minutes on the bottom rack of the oven then lower the temperature to 350 and let them go another 20-30 or until they are set except for the smallest jiggly bit in the middle.  Put them on a rack to cool.

 

I like to eat them at room temperature with a salad or just a big hunk on a plate.  I'll let these cool completely then cut them and deliver them to the Masons so they have something to snack on while they meet and do Mason things.

There you go, my latest quick and easy 'anything' fridge quiche.  I hope you enjoy it! 

/enjoy

Vodka pastry. I don't make pastry "right" but it comes out great. I have this recipe posted but this is the play by play. Quick, easy, yummy.

Don't blink, this is a quickie.  

I make pastry with Vodka.  I mix it too long and don't have a light touch at all.  I'm brutal with it, it's too wet and I roll it out a bunch of times.  I do all things that will result is abysmal anti-pastry.  THAT being said.  I make pretty good stuff.  Not the best I've ever had, my mother holds that particular title and I have no intentions of attempting to match her flakiness level.  I make good pastry.  It's flaky, tasty, easy to deal with and makes a pretty fine pie. 

I'm "into" making hand pies at the moment and need a pastry that will let me use and abuse it and my Vodka pastry is just the thing.  Here's my (purists, avert your eyes!!!!) play by play of my pastry...... 

TRACY'S VODKA PIE DOUGH, PASTRY

Use a Cuisinart because I can't make this without mine.  

In the bowl, dump:

2 cups of flour
a little salt
a little sugar
1 cup of mixed fat (I use my dry one cup measure and put some lard, shortening and margarine or butter in there)

Pulse till it looks like bits, 5-6 pulses ?

ADD 1/4 cup ice cold vodka (I keep my little bottle of 'pie vodka' in the freezer all the time)

Pulse till it looks like bigger bits, 2-3 pulses ?

With the machine running, add water down the tube until the dough, and this is DOUGH, rides the blade.  

It goes against ALL the rules, as I said, pie people look away!!  Here's the horrifying pictorial: 

Dump everything in the Cuisinart, flour, salt, sugar, fat
   
Pulse it a couple of times till it looks like bits
   

Add 1/4 cup vodka, this is a 1/8 measure so I add 2! Pulse a couple of times till it's bigger bits

   
Turn the machine on and pour cold water, slowly, in until it rides the blade and is quite soft.  It looks like bread dough, go figure.
 
Take it out and put it on a lightly floured board.  This stuff can take A LOT of flour because it's so wet from the vodka but when it cooks, the vodka evaporates and you get lovely layers of dough, really, trust me!

Pat it into a square, I like it as a square because, well, I just do, so you pat yours into a square too.  Wrap in cling film and throw it in the fridge for a while.  I'm making chicken "Cornish Pastie" later and I'll take pics to show you how easy this is to deal with.
   

Well, there you go, my "there is no way this works or tastes like anything other than cardboard" absolutely delicious, flaky, tender and yummy pie dough. 

/enjoy

Meat pie, my jumbo mini version. The perfect food, the perfect container, the perfect mood fixer. My version is a homage to the French Canadian Tourtiere, with it's old fashioned flavors and spice blend. Oh and I cook the filling in the pressure cooker.

I love a good meat pie.  My mom makes the best meat pie.  I make a decent meat pie.  I wanted meat pie tonight but I wanted it with more flair and more spice than our standard family meat pie.  I wanted something that would give me the joy of a meat pie without the mental comparison I do to my own meat pie.  I wanted something that was close but different... what to do, what to do.  

Oh then we had an epiphany:  Why, hello Mr. Tourtiere.  A tourtiere is a wonderful French Canadian invention that incorporates the best of the meat pie and the best of the flavors of the north, cloves, allspice, cinnamon.  It's hearty and had a wonderful depth of flavor.  

It isn't full of vegetables or gravy but rather pork (and in my case, beef too) goodness with a spice background that is bright and earthy and so good it's making me wax poetic like a lovesick foodie.


You wouldn't think the meat and those spices would 'go' but they do and today, for me, they went all the way home to this mini meat pie extravaganza. I cooked the filling in the pressure cooker because I can and I LOVE my Nesco Pressure Cooker and find ways to use it every day.  

I'm teaching Connor (14) how to cook meals and snacks and general food stuffs in it which is another post for another day. 

Today, however, we are in meat pie land.  I hope you make these, I hope you love these like I do. Oh and yes you can make a large one, yes, you can make smaller ones, yes you can make them as turnovers or topless or bottomless  This is merely a moment in time where I am sharing with you how I made mine, tonight.  As we know, tomorrow or next week I will do it completely differently.  This is the version you need to make soon

Tracy's Mini Tourtiere Inspired Meat Pies  

1/2 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
1 onion
a little bit each of: cloves, allspice, nutmeg, mace, savory, cinnamon
salt and pepper
water
*leftover mashed potatoes optional*

Pastry, either buy some, make some of your own or use my recipe: 

My vodka pastry is super quick and easy: 

2 cups all purpose flour

1 heaped tsp salt

1 heaped tsp sugar

1 cup fat (butter/margarine/shortening/lard combination)

1/4 cup ice cold vodka

enough cold water to make a soft dough

I put all the dry ingredients in a food processor then add the fats and pulse it so that it looks like small peas in there.  

I toss all the vodka down the tube while it's running then enough ice water in a SLOW stream until it comes together as a ball on the blades.  

Stop the machine immediately.  

"THEY" say you're not supposed to wait till the dough rides the blade; I do.  

Don't fret.  

It's much wetter than 'normal' pastry, the vodka evaporates and makes a lovely flaky dough.  trust me.

Remove the ball, divide it into two and wrap and toss in the fridge for about an hour.  Load of people moan at me about my bad method about blending too long or not measuring properly BUT, I make a killer, flaky pie crust so apparently my wrong way works just fine, try it, you'll like it :)

BACK TO THE PIE! 

All right then, back to the pie. 

I cook my filling in the pressure cooker, which is cold.  
Toss in the pork, beef, onion, the spices (I forgot to take a pic of the savory, don't forget to add it) and some water, shush it around to make it look wet and unappetizing and a little like baby food.
      
Nasty looking isn't it?  Fear not.  The water keeps the meat tender, moist and soft.

IF you don't have your pressure cooker YET, wait on buying one, I am going to testing a new one next week and will do a review for you here.  In the mean time, cook this in a wide pan on the stove with a lid and it'll be almost as good :)  Put all the ingredients in a cold sauce pan with a lid and turn it to medium.  When it boils (euwww) reduce the heat to medium low and simmer it about 30 minutes then reduce the liquid, if needed, without a lid.  

Back to those of us with electric pressure cookers:  Lock and Load, 15 minutes

At the end of 15 minutes, release the pressure and you'll be sure you've done it wrong.  It's sort of cooked and there's this beef/pork/spice/fat mixture floating around the meat.  Turn the cooker onto BROWN and cook the liquid down until you can pull a spoon through it and leaves a wet line.  Add any leftover mashed potatoes, I had about a cup or so, and mix it in well.  Dump it into a container and shove it in the fridge to cool down. 
    
Deliciousness; and yes it's SUPPOSED to be that color


While the meat cools, make the pastry, roll it out and line 6 (in my case) JUMBO muffin tins.  I cut 6 inch circles and lined the muffin tins.  

Then I squashed the sides a bit so the pastry would be higher than the side of the muffin in.  To make it easier to seal it.  I cut 3 inch 'lids'.  

Fill the tins with the cooled meat mixture almost to the top then put a lid, that's been slit, on to of each.
It's easier to slit before you put them on, according to my International tester.
   
Place the lid on top and fold the sides up and over the top, pressing slightly.  My dough is pretty soft and super easy to work with so it sticks and squashes together beautifully.  Don't fret, do the best you can.  This is one time where practice really does make perfect.
   
Badly folded first one:     Beautifully folded sixth one:
 
Shove them in the fridge until you're ready to cook them.

Egg wash the tops when you're ready and bake them on the BOTTOM RACK of a preheated 425 oven.
Bake for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 375 and bake for another 20+, until they're absolutely gorgeous.  Pop them out of the tins quickly so they don't steam and go soggy.  There are few things worse than a soggy bottomed jumbo mini meat pie.
   
Nothing but beauty shots now:
     
Add some veggies and make a light beef gravy from the jar of beef fat you have in the freezer and hello, welcome to full on pie and 3 veg dinner on a Friday night
     
 
 

So, it appears you need to get your hands on a jumbo muffin tin, some pork and/or beef, an onion and some flour for pastry and you'll get this amazing pie on the table. 

I hope you like it, let me know! 

/enjoy