Beef and Olive Empanadas

We have another concert tonight at Timucua -- we think it will feature classical guitarists, so I decided to learn how to make baked Spanish Beef and Olive Empanadas.They turned out like this:

Ingredients:

• 1 pound ground beef (I was light on beef, so I added about 8 ounces of sliced mushrooms)
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional)
• 1/2 cup water (or beef broth)
• 1/2 teaspoon ground garlic (or 3 cloves fresh, minced)
• 1/2 tsp dry oregano
• 1 tsp cumin ground
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt 
• 1/2 tsp black pepper 
• 2 tbsp hot sauce (Sriracha or similar)
• 12 Spanish green olive, diced into small pieces
• Two 10 count packs of empanada dough disks (my packs were about 14 ounces, and about 6 inches across)
• 1 egg + 1/2 cup water for egg wash

Instructions:

1. Thaw the empanada dough disks the night before in the refrigerator, or for about two hours at room temperature.
2. In a heavy 10" skillet, heat the olive oil and add the ground beef. 
3. Sauté the ground beef until done, scrambling it to break it up
4. Add the onion and garlic, and continue sautéing until the onion is soft and translucent. 
5. Add the tomato paste.
6. Scrape an open area in the pan, add the spices. Pour in the water, and mix the spices into the water.
7. Cook the meat mixture for a few minutes, evaporating the water.
8. Let the meat mixture cool until it comes to room temperature.
9. Preheat oven to 375 F degrees, line two half baking pan (13 x 18) with Silpat mats or parchment paper.
10. For appetizer size empanadas, slice the disks in half.
11. Beat about 1/2 water with the egg to make a light wash.
12. Spread out 8 or so dough disks on a working surface.
     



13. Brush the edges of each disk with the egg wash.
14. Place a rounded tablespoon of filling at the bottom of each half disk.
    (I packed my small cookie scoop.)




15. Fold the top half of the dough over the bottom, pressing the edges shut. Use a fork to reinforce the edges.  




16. Place the mini empanadas on the baking pans - distributing them so they don't overlap.
     



17. Repeat for all of the dough disks in the first pack.
18. Bake the first pan while assembling the second pan. Bake for about 15 minutes, check for that they have some light brown color.  (I baked them in the middle of my oven.)
    (I also broiled them for 2 minutes to give them some more color.)
19. Repeat the assembly process for the second dough pack.
    (fwiw, it took me about 15 minutes to assemble the second set of empanadas.)
20. Serve warm, or room temperature if you are taking them to a potluck!

Carole's Notes:

We liked these!

The recipe is adapted from https://www.jocooks.com/recipes/beef-empanadas/
- some differences are that her recipe uses puff pastry, and does not include olives.