Have you ever wondered what to do with left over pulled pork, well you could use them in place of left over Brisket in my brisket pie recipe or you could make these cheat baked empanadas, you could go through the trouble of making traditional empanada pasty or just use puff pastry.
WHAT YOU NEED
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 diced onion, finely diced
1 cup finely diced sweet potato
1/2 each diced red and green capsicums, (bell peppers)
2 cups shredded pork
2 to 3 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons Smokey Joe’s Chipotle & Lime Seasoning
1 few dashes of red wine vinegar, to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
15 x 12cm rounds of puff pastry
1 egg, mixed with a little water, to glazed pastry
WHAT TO DO
Add oil to a large pan, heat and sauté onions and sweet potato for several minutes, until the sweet potato has softened. Add the capsicums/bell peppers, Chipotle & Lime Seasoning and sauté until tender but still a little crisp. Add the pork, water, stir to mix. Add salt and pepper to taste.(be mindful as the pulled pork will already have been seasoned)
Cook until the moisture is mostly evaporated and a spoon, run across the bottom to separate the ingredients leaves a dry path. Cool completely.
When cool, if cooking right away, preheat oven to 220c/425f degrees. (Note: if Empanadas are filled and refrigerated for a half an hour before cooking, the dough seems to be flakier and they seem to have a better seal. If you are going to refrigerate before cooking, hold off on the egg wash till ready to bake) Add a piece of parchment to a baking sheet, mix egg and water to glaze
To each round of dough, wet one half of the inside edge with egg wash. Fill with roughly 1/4 cup of filling. Fold so the egg wash side meets the side without: I find this easiest to do in the palm of my hand. I place the dough in my palm, brush 1/2 with the egg wash, add the filling. With the other hand, I pinch the top edges closed, then pinch down each side to the points.
When the dough is pinched closed, go around the outside edge of the empanada again, pressing so there is a lip about a half-inch wide, all along the pinched edge. Lay on clean counter and press lightly with a fork, all along the edge, being careful not to pierce the body of the Empanada. Continue with the rest of the Empanadas until all completed.
Brush each Empanada with egg wash and place on a lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt (optional). Bake at 220c / 425f until dough is browned and cooked through, 20/25 minutes depending on your oven.
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