Empanadas de carne take me back to Hialeah where Abuela Nena would make them in her kitchen. I don’t know why, but I specifically have this memory of her making them while watching TV in her kitchen. They used to have this TV/radio combination in the kitchen with an antenna you would have to use to get the channels you want. The screen for the TV was black and white and extremely tiny, but that’s what these empanadas take me back to.
What’s great about empanadas is that they can be served as an appetizer or as your main course and they can always be made with any leftover food you have, especially picadillo. There is always left over picadillo for some reason, no matter how much you make, and a perfect way to use the leftovers is making them into empandas. I decided to make a garlic-cilantro aioli so you can dip and the combination of the two just taste delicious.
Happy Frito Friday everybody! I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
- 1 Cup Picadillo (recipe in blog)
- 8 Empanadas Discs
- 3 tbsp Flour
Garlic-Cilantro Aioli
- 1 Egg at room temperature
- 1 tsp Lime Juice may use lemon juice
- 1 tsp White wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Mustard seeds
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1 cup Oil Canola oil or any other light oil
- 1/4 cup Cilantro chopped
- 2 Garlic cloves pressed
- 3 tbsp Lime
- 1 tsp Salt
Instructions
- Remove the empanada discs from the freezer and let thaw.
- In the meantime, sprinkle the flour over the counter and spread. Once the discs are thaw, lay them all out over the flour.
- Place about 1-2tbsp of picadillo in the center of each disc.
- Place a small amount of water into a cup. Using your finger or a brush, wet the outer portion of the disc.
- Fold the disc in half, closing in the contents and meeting together both wet sides of the discs.
- Using a fork, press on the outer portion of the disc to seal it. Repeat on the other side. You should have the calssic marks of the fork on the outer part of the empandas after.
- Heat up about an inch of oil in a pan (or use a deep fryer) to about 375°F. Once hot, place the empanadas inside. Cook for about 2 minutes and flip and cook for abouther 2 minutes. Or until they are golden brown.
- After they are cooked, place on a plate lined with paper towel, and take off the excess oil.
Garlic Cilantro aioli
- You will need a stick blender to make the mayonnaise from scratch. (If you dont have one, skip the next two steps and use 1 cup of store bought mayonnaise.
- In a measuring cup or the cup that came with the stick blender, add the egg (at room temperature), mustard seeds, lime juice, salt, and white vinegar. Finally add the oil and let it set so that oil is on the top layer.
- Put the stick blender into the cup and press it down on the bottom and turn it on, leaving it on the bottom for 10-20 seconds. You should start to notice the mayonnaise forming. Once it starts to get thick, slowly elevate the stick blender to the top to incorporate all of the oil.
- After the mayonnaise is made, add the cilantro, lime, salt and garlic (using a garlic press) and mix.
- Serve and enjoy!
