Pork Picadillo Empanadas

Originally I wanted to bake something for Meeta's birthday, then the plan switched to making ricotta pancakes; the idea being a "virtual" birthday breakfast. I used an Everyday Food recipe and while they had the right idea, the recipe was seriously lacking. I definitely couldn't share a dish I wasn't proud of for Meeta's event so I wanted to make something else. Since the Monthly Mingle is a party theme, I finally went with some savory empanadas for an snack/appetizer. Happy Birthday Meeta, I hope you had a great day. :)

Notes:
- I'm not really sure what the baking powder did, made the crust lighter I suppose. Next time I will omit it and see what happens.
- Some recipes didn't call for baking powder but used vinegar instead. I'm not sure what that would do, maybe make the crust tender also?
- I didn't really figure out how to crimp the edges of the empanada, like Deb, her's are so gorgeous. Maybe next time I'll figure it out.
- I think I may not have rolled out the dough thin enough. If you roll out the wrappers to 1/8-in thick I suspect you may be able to get more empanadas out of the recipe.

Pork Picadillo Empanadas
Filling
About 2 C pork picadillo

Dough
Adapted from Mark Bittman's The Best Recipes in the World

1 3/4 C flour
1/4 C finely ground cornmeal (original recipe called for masa harina which I didn't have)
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 egg, lightly beaten
6 tbsp butter, cold
3 – 5 tbsp milk
Egg wash: 1 egg lightly beaten

Mix the flour, cornmeal, salt, and baking powder in a bowl. Using a food processor, pastry blender, or two forks, cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it resembles coarse meal and the butter pieces are no bigger than a pea.

In the center of the dry ingredients, make a well and pour in the beaten egg and 3 tbsp of milk. Bring the dough together, if it is too dry and resists, add some more milk.

Turn the mixture onto a work surface and gently knead (only enough to bring it together, don't overwork the dough) and bring the dough into a cohesive mass. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least an hour.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF.

Divide the dough in half and each half into 8 or 9 even pieces. I got about 18 4-in wrappers out of the dough. Roll each piece out into about a 4in wrapper. Plop about a mounded tablespoon of filling in the center. Fold and seal the crescent, and crimp the edges with a fork (I skipped this) or crimp it in a decorative way (couldn't figure out how to do this).

Brush each empanada with some beaten egg and poke some holes on top for the steam to escape. Bake at 375ºF for about 30 minutes, or until the tops are golden brown.

Pork Picadillo

A year’s worth of Everyday Food has been piling up on my bookcase. When I received my first issue, most of the recipes in the magazine didn't suit my tastes. So every subsequent month, I would simply stick the latest issue on a shelf not bothering to look inside. But over the last year my tastes have definitely changed and the range of foods and dishes that appeal to me have widened greatly. Recently I needed something to read on the bus so I I brought the June issue with me. I was casually flipping through the pages expecting nothing to interest me but to my surprise I liked quite a few recipe and dog eared a few pages. Now I'm slowly working my way back, reading all the magazines that I had previously ignored. In this latest edition, I saw a recipe for pork picadillo that looked pretty good. It was really tasty over rice and I used the fillings in some empanadas that I made for Meeta's Birthday Bash Monthly Mingle.

Notes:
- Since I didn’t have ancho chili powder, I used 1 tsp of regular chili powder + 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika
- I made a few changes to the recipe but in the end I felt like it could use a bit more spice. Next time I will up the chili powder to 2 teaspoons. In retrospect, a teaspoon of chili powder hardly seems enough to flavor 3 pounds of meat. But perhaps high quality ancho chili powder would have done the job.
- The recipe makes a lot, about 6 - 8 cups, but it freezes well.
- Other uses include: in burritos, nachos, tacos, on baked potatoes, and empanadas

Pork (or Beef) Picadillo
Adapted from Everyday Food

3 lb ground pork (or lean ground beef)
1 medium onion, diced
1 28 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 chiptole chilies (in adobo sauce), minced
1 tsp of the adobo sauce from the chiptole peppers
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
1 tsp ancho chili power (or regular chili powder + smoked paprika)
1/2 tsp ground cumin (I used 1 tsp whole cumin and ground it)
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 - 2 bay leaves (depending on the size and potency)
1/2 tsp black pepper (or more to taste)
1/2 C raisins
Olive oil
Salt to taste

Optional: chopped green olives
Toppings: chopped cilantro and/or toasted almonds

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a dutch oven and brown half of the ground meat, remove, add more oil to the pan, and brown the second half. Drain the fat if you’re using ground beef, pork is pretty lean so draining is unnecessary.

Pour out any accumulated fat if using beef. Add another tbsp of olive oil and add the chili powder and cumin. Bloom the spices in the oil for a few seconds then add the onions and cook until softened. Then add the garlic, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.

Add the browned meat, tomatoes, chopped chilies, bay leaf, cinnamon, and ground black pepper to the pan. Add some salt but leave it a little on undersalted because the flavors will concentrate as it reduces, salt to taste after it finishes cooking.

Simmer partly covered for about 45 minutes. At the halfway point if it's still looking too liquidy, simmer uncovered for the rest of the time. 10 minutes before the dish is done, soak the raisins in some hot water. I did this to leech out some of the sugar, otherwise they're too sweet for me, and to get rid of the gross sticky coating on the outside. Soak them for about 5 minutes, drain, and squeeze the excess water out. Off heat, stir in the raisins and fish out the bay leaves.

Serve over rice with some chopped cilantro and/or chopped toasted almonds on top.