Empanadas de Pino

I had talked to you, during my culinary trip to Santiago de Chile (see the report HERE), about these delicious “empanadas de pino”, these kinds of small breads stuffed with beef, egg, onions and raisins. I had devoured a certain amount and promised to   bring you the recipe one day. It’s done thanks to my good friend Alejandro who gave me the one of his mother. We made this recipe together and I want to thank him for taking the time to make them with me as he will be a father soon. The only thing we can’t explain in this recipe is its name, because “de pino” means “with pine nuts”. Yet all over Chile, these empanadas are stuffed in the same way. I’ll come up with more recipes for empanadas one day, as they are found in almost all of South America (except Brazil). Some are baked, others are fried and the dough varies from place to place (puff pastry, bread dough etc…).

Recipe for 12 “Empanadas de Pino”:

-700g of beef (for fondue)

-4 onions

-80g of lard

-3 hard-boiled eggs 

-24 pitted black olives

-salt pepper

-cumin powder

-merquen (or sweet pepper powder)

-origan

-1 level tablespoon of flour

-50g of raisins

-1kg of flour

-125g of melted lard

-150ml of semi-skimmed milk

-1 teaspoon of baking powder

-warm water, salt

-1 beaten egg for the gilding

Cut onions into small pieces. 

Cut the beef (you need a good knife!) into thin strips.

Then in small pieces. Do not mix the beef. Take your time and cut small pieces. This is not difficult or time consuming. 

In less time than you think, the meat is ground. 

To cook the beef, we’ll use delicious lard that goes perfectly with the beef in this recipe!

Melt lard in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the beef. 

Then chop the onions without waiting.

Mix well and let simmer. I can assure you that at this point, it smells delicious!

Cook until beef and onions are juicy. Add oregano and cumin at this time. I leave it to you to decide how much to put in. You will have to adjust the spices at the end of the recipe, before stuffing the empanadas.

Also add the swollen raisins (without the soaking water!). 

If you can find it (I don’t know if it’s so easy to find in France) you can add Merquen. It is a mixture of spices (garlic and chili) that comes from Chile. I bought this package in Santiago during my culinary trip.

Add the merquen according to the desired taste.

The mixture returns a little water to the bottom of the pan. 

Add a little flour (the equivalent of a level tablespoon) to sprinkling the top of the stuffing.

Stir and simmer a little more. The stuffing should be moist with just the right amount of thickened sauce. Taste to adjust salt and spices. Let cool completely. 

When the stuffing is cooled down, it is time to start working on the dough. Put the kilo of flour on the work surface.

Dig a well in the middle and pour the melted lard in the middle. 

Mix gently at starting from the center. 

Add the teaspoon of baking powder. Mix well. Sprinkle the dough lightly with salt.

Add all the milk and then water until the dough is homogeneous. 

You can feel with your fingers if the dough needs water. 

It is necessary now elbow grease and work the dough for about 15 minutes. It’s a robust paste! The dough can also be made with a food processor equipped with a dough hook. 

When the dough is sufficiently worked, gather it into a ball and let it rest under a clean cloth for thirty minutes. 

When the dough has rested, scoop out a ball the size of a large ping pong ball. 

Spread it on a floured surface with a rolling pin to a thickness of less than 2mm.

You have to cut a circle of 20cm diameter. You’re bound to have a dish or a plate (or even a pie ring) of this size at home. 

A perfect circle of dough is obtained.

Spread this circle out again to make an ellipse. 

Here you can see how thick the final dough should be.

Place two tablespoons full of filling in the center of the dough.

Add a slice of hard-boiled egg and two olives.

Fold the dough to 1.5cm from the bottom edge. 

Solder by pressing lightly with a finger dipped in water. 

Then gradually fold the dough in small folds. 

Do the same on the joint. The empanada is ready!

Prepare all other empanadas in the same way. 

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Brush with beaten egg. 

Then pierce the surface with three strokes of a fork. This will prevent the empanadas from exploding in the oven.

Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or baking paper. 

Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes. 

It’s ready! All that’s left to do is enjoy it with a good glass of Carménère!