This recipe is inspired by Argentinean empanadas, especially for the beef stuffing. You can try with any kind of stuffing! In this recipe I gave you the quantities to make 2 batches of these “empanadas”. One is with beef, spices, olives and raisins, the other one is with spinach, ricotta and herbs.
Stuffed pastries with spicy beef and ricotta & cheese
Ingredients
Dough for about 18 pastries
- 250 g flour
- 90 g soft butter
- 190 ml tepid milk
- 2 eggs
- ½ tsp salt
Beef filling for 10 pastries
- 250 g ground beef
- 1 yellow onion
- A handful of raisins
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1 tsp chilli powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- ½ tsp cumin powder
- 20 g stoned green olives
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Spinach & cheese filling for 8 pastries
- 350 g fresh spinach
- 125 g ricotta or mozzarella
- 1 garlic clove
- A handful of pine nuts
- nutmeg
- salt
- pepper
- olive oil
Instructions
Preparation of the beef filling
- Mix the minced meat and spices in a bowl.
- Finely chop the onion and fry it for 4/5 minutes in a drizzle of olive oil.
- Add the minced meat and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, stirring regularly. Set aside.
- Finely chop the olives and add them to the stuffing with the raisins. Mix to distribute well.
Preparation of the spinach filling
- Finely chop the garlic.
- Clean the spinach, and remove the stalk from the larger leaves. Chop the spinach.
- In a frying pan, fry the garlic in a drizzle of olive oil.
- Add the spinach leaves and reduce for a good 3 minutes. Remove from the heat.
- In a salad bowl, mix the cooked spinach with the crushed ricotta (or mozzarella cheese cut into small pieces), add the pine nuts, salt and pepper and mix again to homogenize.
Dough preparation
- In a bowl, mix the flour and salt.
- Add the soft butter, previously cut into small cubes. Mix with your fingertips.
- Gradually add an egg and the milk and mix to form the dough.
- Form 4 balls and flatten them into large discs. Put them on a tray, cover with a damp cloth and place in the refrigerator while you prepare the filling.
- When the filing is ready, take the dough out of the fridge.
- On a floured surface, roll out the dough thinly and cut out the discs with the help of a round ravioli mould or a large glass.
- Separate the white and yolk from the second egg.
- Place the filling in the center of the disc. Brush the edges of the disc with the egg white, and close to form the turnover.
- Brush the turnovers with egg yolk and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 200°C.
Notes
You can try many different variations of the stuffing but also for the dough: try for example with different flours.
Some ideas for other fillings: tomato/mozzarella, tuna/tomato/olive…
And why not sweet versions?