ok, they're empanadas. another one of my favorite recipies i brought back from argentina.
so on first thought, i didn't think empanadas would be a particularly appropriate stoner recipe, because of the complexity and time involved. but then i spent a whole weekend getting ripped and making batch after batch of these things, and it was a lot of fun! so this is the kind of stoner recipe you can take-on if you've got pretty much all day to devote to playing with dough, and squishing stuff with your hands, and sticking things in the fry daddy. plus, these are soooooo good! i mean, damn! and they freeze really well, so you can save some for later when you're really baked.
what you will need:
filling (see below)
dough (see below)
flat surface for rolling dough
deep fryer + vegetable oil
paper bags to collect excess oil
filling:
so empanadas are basically deep fried dough pockets, filled with the filling of your choice. the traditional "pino" mixture includes sauteed onions and ground beef, spiced with cumin salt and red pepper, plus hard-boiled egg chunks, raisins and olives. another popular filling included cheesy mashed potatoes. i experimented a little and found a great combination of pears, raisins, ricotta, cinnamon and dulce de leche (milk caramel). let your munchies guide you, to find the filling that's right for you. You'll need about 5 1/2 cups of filling for one batch of 8 empanadas.
dough:
in a big mixing bowl, stir-together 1 cup of hot (not boiling) water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar (pretty much any kind. i used white wine vinegar), 1 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons of melted butter. add 3 1/2 cups of flour and mix with your hands until the dough stops sticking, and you can shape it into a long cylinder without it sticking to everything.
assembly:
divide the cylinder of dough into 8 equal sections. one by one, flatten each dough ball into a circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter. i used the round vinegar bottle as a rolling pin. scoop about 2/3 cup of filling onto the circle of dough. carefully fold the dough in 1/2, pressing the edges together and sealing it shut.
some tips:
-try to get as much air out of the pocket as possible. this keeps the empanadas from floating to the top when you deep fry them.
-at the same time, be careful not to allow the filling to squish-out. if you've got taters squishing out the side, all of the filling will try to escape though this hole, and your oil will get dirty. for the same reason, avoid poking holes in the side of the empanada
-in argentina they would do this thingy where they rolled and pressed the edges of the empanadas, so it almost looked like there was this crescent of braided dough around the pocket. it takes a special roll-and-tuck-and-press motion that should come naturally to those familiar with how to roll a joint.
cook: traditionally, you take your rolled-up empanadas, and deep fry them in oil. this is delicious, but some people get freaked-out by the potential health risks of deep fried food, or the possibility of deep-frying some part of their body, or the fact that they don't own a fry daddy. i borrowed a neighbor's fry daddy, but i could have done just as well with a tall pot and a slotted spoon. i set the temperature to 420F
that said, for the health-conscious or burn-prone, you can also bake your empanadas. brush with milk on both sides, place on waxed paper or a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 420F for 20 minutes or so.
so on first thought, i didn't think empanadas would be a particularly appropriate stoner recipe, because of the complexity and time involved. but then i spent a whole weekend getting ripped and making batch after batch of these things, and it was a lot of fun! so this is the kind of stoner recipe you can take-on if you've got pretty much all day to devote to playing with dough, and squishing stuff with your hands, and sticking things in the fry daddy. plus, these are soooooo good! i mean, damn! and they freeze really well, so you can save some for later when you're really baked.
what you will need:
filling (see below)
dough (see below)
flat surface for rolling dough
deep fryer + vegetable oil
paper bags to collect excess oil
filling:
so empanadas are basically deep fried dough pockets, filled with the filling of your choice. the traditional "pino" mixture includes sauteed onions and ground beef, spiced with cumin salt and red pepper, plus hard-boiled egg chunks, raisins and olives. another popular filling included cheesy mashed potatoes. i experimented a little and found a great combination of pears, raisins, ricotta, cinnamon and dulce de leche (milk caramel). let your munchies guide you, to find the filling that's right for you. You'll need about 5 1/2 cups of filling for one batch of 8 empanadas.
dough:
in a big mixing bowl, stir-together 1 cup of hot (not boiling) water, 1 teaspoon of vinegar (pretty much any kind. i used white wine vinegar), 1 teaspoon of salt, and 3 tablespoons of melted butter. add 3 1/2 cups of flour and mix with your hands until the dough stops sticking, and you can shape it into a long cylinder without it sticking to everything.
assembly:
divide the cylinder of dough into 8 equal sections. one by one, flatten each dough ball into a circle, about 6-7 inches in diameter. i used the round vinegar bottle as a rolling pin. scoop about 2/3 cup of filling onto the circle of dough. carefully fold the dough in 1/2, pressing the edges together and sealing it shut.
some tips:
-try to get as much air out of the pocket as possible. this keeps the empanadas from floating to the top when you deep fry them.
-at the same time, be careful not to allow the filling to squish-out. if you've got taters squishing out the side, all of the filling will try to escape though this hole, and your oil will get dirty. for the same reason, avoid poking holes in the side of the empanada
-in argentina they would do this thingy where they rolled and pressed the edges of the empanadas, so it almost looked like there was this crescent of braided dough around the pocket. it takes a special roll-and-tuck-and-press motion that should come naturally to those familiar with how to roll a joint.
cook: traditionally, you take your rolled-up empanadas, and deep fry them in oil. this is delicious, but some people get freaked-out by the potential health risks of deep fried food, or the possibility of deep-frying some part of their body, or the fact that they don't own a fry daddy. i borrowed a neighbor's fry daddy, but i could have done just as well with a tall pot and a slotted spoon. i set the temperature to 420F
that said, for the health-conscious or burn-prone, you can also bake your empanadas. brush with milk on both sides, place on waxed paper or a greased cookie sheet, and bake at 420F for 20 minutes or so.
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