Empanadas (Beef Turnovers)

Every culture has its variation of stuffed dough/pastry. Empanadas are discs of pastry packed with meat or other fillings. They can be appetizer or main dish. Most often, I bake them (for health purposes), but as I was making these for a party, I decided to go full throttle and fry them (as they are intended to be). You can certainly make your own pastry, but Goya and a few other companies make perfectly delicious, frozen, ready-made discos. I've adjusted this recipe for personal taste and quantity.

Makes 20 large empanadas

1 tbs olive oil
1 1/4 lb ground beef
1 medium onion, finely chopped (about 1 cup)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
12-16 pimento stuffed green olives, sliced thinly
4 tbs. sofrito (Goya makes this product)
1 packet Sazon with coriander and annatto
4 small garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tsp dried oregano
2 pkgs discos (I use Goya)

corn oil for frying

Heat 1 tbs olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add ground beef and cook until browned, breaking up meat with a wooden spoon, about 10 minutes. Add onions and cook until soft, 5 minutes more. Stir in tomato sauce, olives, sofrito, sazon, garlic, and oregano.  Lower heat to medium-low and simmer until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.

On a lightly floured work surface, using a rolling pin, roll out discos until they're 1/2 inch larger in diameter. Spoon a heaping  tbs or so of meat mixture into middle. Moisten around edge of disc with water, and pinch to seal closed or close with a fork by pressing tines all around the edge (my preferred method). You want these to stay closed while frying. You don't want to overfill these or they'll burst when frying. In reality, there's a lot more pastry to filling.

Fill a deep saucepan (or deep frying) with oil to a depth of 2 1/2 inches. Heat oil to 350 degrees and cook empanadas in batches until crisp and golden on both sides (frying 2 minutes on each side works for me).

Transfer to paper towels to drain. You can eat immediately or cool and reheat in a hot (400 degree) oven for approximately 10 minutes).
*****************************************
TASTE NOTES
I absolutely adore the taste of these, but I'm hot happy with the ratio of pastry to filling. I'd prefer the size to be half of what it is using the ready-made discos. I guess the only solution is to make my own pastry in the future. While these taste wonderful baked, nothing beats the taste fried. I have a fantastic deLonghi deep fryer (it was a gift because I almost never fry) which has now been used a total of 3 times that made frying a snap. These were a hit at the party, so you may want to give them a try.