Empanadas, Mendoza-Style Beef and Olive
Burnished half-moons stacked on a board with a bowl of grass-green chimichurri and lemon wedges, steam still rising from the first one you tear open.
Ingredients
Serves 8- 500 gbeef mince (15% fat)
- 2medium onions, finely diced
- 1red pepper, finely diced
- 3spring onions, finely sliced
- 3garlic cloves, minced
- 4 tspground cumin
- 4 tspsmoked paprika
- 1 tspdried oregano
- ½ tspchilli flakes
- 50 graisins
- 100 gpitted green olives, roughly chopped
- 3hard-boiled eggs, roughly chopped
- 2 tbspolive oil
- 1beef stock cube
- 100 mlwater
- salt and black pepper
- 24empanada pastry discs, about 12–13 cm across (about 768 g total)
- 1egg, beaten, for egg wash
- 50 gplain flour, for dusting
- 1lemon, finely zested, then cut into wedges
- 1 tbspwhole milk, for egg wash
Method
- Start the filling the night before if you can; mendoza empanadas are built on a cold filling, because warm filling steams the pastry from the inside and you'll end up with a soggy bottom. Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat and add the onions, red pepper and a generous pinch of salt. Cook for 8–10 minutes until the onions are completely soft, translucent and just catching colour at the edges; this is your flavour base, so don't rush it.
- Add the garlic, cumin, smoked paprika, oregano and chilli flakes. Stir for 30–60 seconds, just until fragrant and the kitchen fills with that warm paprika smell. Watch the garlic; pale gold is what you want, not brown.
- Transfer the vegetables to a bowl. Brown the beef in two batches over a high heat, leaving each batch undisturbed for 2–3 minutes before breaking it up and cooking for another 2 minutes. Return all the beef and vegetables to the pan.
- Once both batches are back in, crumble in the stock cube and add the water. Simmer for 5 minutes until the liquid has almost gone but the mixture still looks glossy and moist, not dry.
- Off the heat, stir in the raisins, spring onions and lemon zest. Taste and season hard; pastry dulls seasoning, so the filling needs to taste slightly over-seasoned on its own. Taste again. Spread the filling thinly on a tray, cool for about 30 minutes, then refrigerate for at least 1 hour until cold. Get it into the fridge within 2 hours of cooking. The olives and eggs go in cold, just before filling; adding them now would turn the eggs rubbery and the olives muddy.
- When you're ready to assemble, preheat the oven to 200°C fan and line two baking trays with greaseproof. Beat the egg with the tablespoon of milk for the egg wash. Stir the chopped olives and chopped hard-boiled eggs through the cold filling.
- Lay a pastry disc on a lightly floured surface. Divide all the filling between the 24 discs, about 2 level tablespoons per disc, placing it slightly off-centre; overfilling is the number one empanada killer, because the pastry won't seal and the filling weeps out in the oven. Brush the rim with egg wash, fold the pastry over into a half-moon, and press the edges firmly, pushing out any air pockets as you go.
- Now the repulgue. Starting at one corner, fold a small section of the sealed edge over itself at a 45-degree angle, press down, then fold the next section over the previous fold. Work along the curve like you're plaiting a rope; each fold locks the last one in place. If the crimp feels fiddly the first time, that's normal; by empanada four you'll have the rhythm. A fork-crimp is honest backup if needed.
- Place on the trays, brush generously with egg wash, and bake for 22–25 minutes until deeply golden; swap the trays halfway through for even colouring. The pastry should look lacquered and burnished, not blonde.
- Rest for 5 minutes; the filling is very hot straight from the oven. Serve three empanadas per person with a lemon wedge for squeezing over.
Per serving
- kcal
- 780
- protein
- 23.3g
- fibre
- 6.9g
- carbs
- 58.5g
- fat
- 52.5g
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