Finish What You Start - Picadillo Para Empanadas...

I recently posted an empanada pastry recipe here, and as I'm still forming the habit of writing down recipes as I make them, I forgot to take measurements for the picadillo (pronounced peekahDEEyoh) that fills them. It's just as well because I think I made enough picadillo that day to feed a crack team of mercenaries. It was a family dinner night, plus we always like to have leftovers for lunch the next day.

Tastes better than it looks. Really.

Having dinner guests aside, it's easy to overestimate the amount of filling you'll need for empanadas and other filled pastries or dumplings. Because you forget that it has to wrap itself around the filling, the disco always appears to have more capacity than it really does, and the first couple of empanadas are invariably sacrificed to the tasty but overstuffed and ugly pile.

The pastry recipe yields 12 to 15 discos and so accordingly, this recipe should yield enough to use up your batch with little or no picadillo left, if you eyeball it just right. Olives are traditional in many cuisines, but I'm starting to leave them out as I think the rich, slightly tangy and (aromatic) spicy flavor of the simmered ground beef, both complemented and contrasted by the sweetness of the raisins, is delicious enough on its own. (But I've included them in the recipe as an option if it's a necessity for you as I know it is for many Latinos who love their empanadas de picadillo.)

This filling is made by sweating the refrito (the cooked onion, pepper and garlic mix, also known as sofrito) and simmering the ground beef, so the heat should never be higher than medium at any point. Because the ground beef is simmered, it's much more tender and yielding to the pastry than it would be if it were sauteed.

PICADILLO PARA EMPANADAS

Fills 12 to 15 pastries

• 1 pound ground beef (80/20 or 70/30 is fine - I wouldn't go much leaner than that)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped onion (the fine chop is important because you don't want large pieces tearing your pastry)
• 1/2 cup finely chopped bell pepper (you can use any color, but I like the red or orange because they're sweeter and look prettier in the filling)
• 2 Tablespoons minced garlic (3 to 4 medium cloves)
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 8 green pitted olives, cut in half (*optional for me, but many would disagree)
• 3 oz. tomato paste (basically half of one of those small cans)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf (or 1/2 teaspoon crushed bay)
• neutral oil

1) In a 10 or 12 inch pot or pan, sweat the onions, peppers and garlic in 1 Tablespoon of oil over medium low heat until the onions are translucent. This should take 3 to 4 minutes. (Sweating them requires a lower heat than saute, but this results in sweeter and softer vegetables which will also yield better to the dough. Plus the garlic won't burn even if you throw it in at the same time as the onions and peppers.)

2) Push the refrito to the side of the pan and add 1 Tablespoon of oil to the center. Give the oil about 10 seconds to heat up and then add your tomato paste right on top of it (this will caramelize the tomato and give it sweetness and depth), along with the cumin, black pepper, bay leaf and salt.

3) Stir to incorporate all the ingredients in the pan, and add the ground beef, spreading it evenly over the surface area of the pan. Because you're simmering the beef at a lower heat, you'll find that you don't have to constantly break up the beef as usually needed when cooking at high heat. Other than a light sizzle right when the meat hits the pan, it shouldn't be sizzling and/or actively bubbling. If it is, turn the heat down a touch.

4) Simmer the ground beef for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally. Then stir in raisins and simmer another 1 or 2 minutes. (I like to add the raisins toward the end so they can retain their shape and texture. Also, if olives are your thing, this is where you'd add them.)

At the end, you'll see your picadillo swimming in a little puddle of fat. I drain the fat by pushing all the picadillo over to one side of the pan and resting that side on the burner so the fat can drain to the lower part of the pan. In about 10 minutes, most of the fat should be drained, and you haven't dirtied another dish in the process.

Drainage - *WOOT!!!*

Back in a bit with filling and frying instruction.

Well, I'm 2/3 finished...

shinae