Cuban Empanadas

One of my viewers requested for me to post a Cuban Empanada recipe, so I figured why not! Empanadas are really delicious and can be made in a variety of ways. However, the Cuban empanadas made amongst my family are fried (not baked) because they did not have access to an oven while living in Cuba. I will be providing some instructions on how to bake these empanadas to give you a few options. There is also a lot of variability in how to fill the empanadas. Filling empanadas with picadillo or guava are commonplace, but you can really fill these with whatever you want -ropa vieja, pollo en salsa, Cuban-style shrimp, etc. Just get as creative as you'd like! For this recipe, I am focusing on empanadas filled with picadillo. The empanadas are medium-large sized, about 6 inches by 4 inches, so you can choose to make them smaller or larger. Furthermore, the empanadas are light, flaky, and a bit crunchy with a slightly salty and sweet meat filling. The filling complements the outer shell of the empanada perfectly! So have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!

Cuban Empanadas Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

For the Picadillo/Meat Filling:

• 1 lbs of ground beef
• ½ of a large red pepper
• 1 medium-sized onion
• ¹/₃ of a 5.75oz jar of green olives
• 1 cup of raisins
• ¾ tbsp garlic powder
• 2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 packet of sazón con asafran or ½ tablespoon saffron

For the Empanada Dough:

•  2 ½ cups of flour
• ¹/₃ cup of shortening
• ²/₃  cup of cold (ice) water plus ¼ cup extra
• 1 ¼ tsp of salt

For frying:

• vegetable or corn oil (a few cups or more depending on the size of your pot)

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A medium-sized pot
• Rolling pin
• Fork, knife, cutting board, large spoon, and measuring utensils
• A food processor (optional)

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Prepare the empanada dough first. Put the flour in a medium-sized bowl, add the salt, and whisk to loosen the flour and evenly distribute the salt. Then cut the shortening into the flour using your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse grains. Next, add in the water a few tablespoons at a time and use a fork to mix. Continue to do this until all the water is added and the mixture formed large chunks. Now use your hands to press the mixture together into one large ball that stays together. Wrap the ball in plastic wrap, then place in the refrigerator for 1 hour. While waiting make the meat filling.
2. Collect the ingredients. Soak the raisins in water for about 20 minutes (put enough water so that the raisins are covered, the water will be discarded anyway. You can set the raisins to soak before making the empanada dough). Finely chop the red pepper, and onion with a food processor. Cut the green olives in half or in thirds.
3. Put the meat in a large pot, break up the meat, and cook on high heat to lightly brown the meat, but continue to stir and break up the meat. You don't want there to be clumps, it should be very refined.
4. Next, add the red pepper and onion to the meat and mix. Add the seasonings, raisins, and olives to the meat and mix thoroughly. Then reduce the heat to medium and let cook for 20 to 25 minutes. Now turn off the heat and start rolling out the empanada dough.
5. Take the empanada dough out of the refrigerator and separate into 1 <iframe frameborder="0" width="480" height="270" src="//www.dailymotion.com/embed/video/x6i6mg5" allowfullscreen allow="autoplay"></iframe> ½ inch balls (about 12 to 13).
6. Now on a lightly floured surface, take one of the dough balls and roll it out to be 1/16th of an inch thick (very thin) by 7 inches in diameter. Make sure to keep it relatively circular, but any imperfections can be trimmed later. Add 5 or 6 tablespoons of the meat filling to the center, then wet the edges of the dough all around the meat and fold over the dough pressing from the meat outward to avoid getting air trapped inside and fully seal the empanada. Now use a fork to crimp the flat edge of the empanada which also helps seal it, and use a knife to even out the edges. Repeat the process for all the empanadas (Note: you can take the scraps and any excess dough, roll it out, cut into smaller pieces, and fry it as is, flat, without any filling, which tastes great with just a bit of powdered sugar and cinnamon)!
7. Now we can fry the empanadas. Take a medium-sized, deep pot, fill with at least 2 ½ inches of vegetable oil, and heat on high heat. You can use a small piece of the empanada dough to check if the oil is hot enough. If you see bubbles, the oil is ready.
8. Carefully, place one empanada in the oil (you can use a spatula to place the empanada in the oil to avoid splashing the oil) then let cook on each side for about 1 minute or until the outside is light brown then remove from the oil and place on a wire rack (Note: the first empanada will take longer to cook, and the rest will cook extremely fast). For the remaining empanadas reduce the heat to medium-high and cook for 20 seconds on each side or until they are starting to turn light brown and remove from the oil and place on a wire rack (Note: the empanadas will continue to cook once removed from the oil and should end up a golden color, so don't overcook them in the oil; see video for visual).
9. Once all of the empanadas are fried, they can be served!

Note: you can also bake the empanadas if you want....just bake them at 400 degrees F for 10 to 15 minutes on each side or until they brown. Be sure to flip the empanadas over halfway into the cooking process.

Ropa Vieja

I’m lucky enough to have grown up eating authentic Cuban food made by my Abuela and mother. One of my absolute favorite dishes is Ropa Vieja, which is considered to be one of the national dishes of Cuba. I also think it is a dish that represents what Cuban cuisine is all about: bold flavors, versatility, and maximizing usage of ingredients. Ropa vieja is a dish made of shredded beef. However, the process of boiling the beef to make the meat tender enough to shred also produces a flavorful beef broth that can be used to make a soup. Therefore, this recipe is quite economical as you get two meals in one! There are several ways to make ropa vieja. I’m showing one method with this recipe, but I’ll show other ways of making ropa vieja in the future. I love ropa vieja because the meat is super tender and extremely flavorful, so have fun trying this recipe and enjoy!

Ropa Vieja Recipe

INGREDIENTS:

• 2-3 pounds of beef shank (can use flank or chuck steak)
• ¹/₃ red pepper, finely chopped
• ¼ red pepper, finely sliced
• 1-2 medium onion(s), chopped
• 2 ½ teaspoons of salt
• 1 ½ tablespoons of garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons of onion powder
• 1 tablespoons of cumin
• 1 packet of sazón con asafran or ½ tablespoon saffron
• 2 cups of beef stock (made using the beef shank; see written/video instructions for details)
• ½ cup of tomato sauce
• ¼ cup of cooking wine
• 1 lemon, juiced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• About a ½ cup of vegetable or corn oil

TOOLS NEEDED:

• A large soup pot
• A large pot
• Forks, knife, cutting board, large spoon, and measuring utensils
• A food processor (optional)

VIDEO DEMONSTRATION / INSTRUCTIONS

BRIEF DIRECTIONS (See the video demonstration for detailed instructions):

1. Take a large pot, fill halfway with water (about 10 to 12 cups) and place the beef shank in the pot (OPTIONAL: You can also add a sprinkle of salt and garlic powder, and one onion sliced if you want. However, don’t overseason as the broth will be used for the ropa vieja, and the seasoning quantities provided for the ingredients are for making the ropa vieja and not for seasoning the beef broth. It’s best to leave the beef broth as natural as possible so that you can use any leftover broth to make a soup or another recipe). Let the pot come to a boil on high heat. Once boiling, let boil for 7 minutes, then reduce the heat to medium, and let cook for 2 and 1/2 hours, or until the beef is fork tender (Note: the fork should easily poke through the meat).
2. Remove the beef from the pot to separate it from the broth. Then take the beef, separate the meat from the bones and cartilage, and shred the meat using 2 forks (See video demonstration for a visual). Reserve the broth for later use.
3. Collect the rest of your ingredients, finely chop the onions and two-thirds of the red pepper in a food processor or using a knife, and finely slice the remaining piece of red pepper into 1-inch pieces about an 8^th inch thick. In another pot, sauté the onions on high heat for a minute in 2 tablespoons of olive oil, then add the red peppers and sauté until the onions are translucent. Next, add the shredded beef, mix with the onions and peppers, and sauté for 1 minute. Then add the cooking wine to deglaze the pan and mix
4. Next, reduce the heat to medium; add the beef stock, tomato sauce, garlic powder, salt, onion powder, saffron, and cumin to the meat, and let cook for 20 to 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the fluid is almost gone and the sauce has thickened. Remove the meat from the pot, clean and thoroughly dry the pot, then add enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pot (the oil should be at least a ¼ inch deep).
5. Now heat the oil on high heat and use a piece of meat to check if the oil is hot enough. If you see bubbles, the oil is ready. Take spoonfuls of the meat and lay it across the bottom of the pot and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Next, reduce the heat to medium-high, turn over the meat, and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Then turn the meat over, stir the meat, spread it across the bottom of the pan again, and let cook for 1 to 2 minutes. Do this until the meat is well browned. Now add the lemon juice and mix it in to evenly distribute the juice on all of the meat. Then the meat is done and can be served (Note: you can serve the meat without frying and browning the meat, just add the lemon in at the end of the cooking process. Also, you can take the browning process as far as you like. I like to get a nice distribution of browned meat and unbrowned meat without overdoing it because you don’t want it to end up dry and burned!).