Empanadilla de Carne (Mini Galician Meat Pies)

This is a repost of my old post for "Empanadilla de Carne" I feel I didn't do such a good job last time at taking the pictures, and just didn't make them the best I could. I'm reposting it.

This recipe is "Pilar Lechuza" who cooks traditional home-style Galician food, she is what I consider the "Queen of Empanadas" she is very skillful at what she cooks, and of course the "Empanadas" of other countries originate in Galicia, Spain (or so it is claims).

Ingredients for dough:-1/2 cup dry white wine
-1/2 cup water
-1/2 cup oil (preferably oil released from cooking the filling, but if not I suggest heating olive oil on medium heat until it get's hot then turn off and stir in a big fat pinch of sweet smoked spanish paprika to infuse the oil, don't burn the paprika be careful, then strain and use to make dough)
-1/2- 1 teaspoon salt
-plain all purpose flour (as much as needed to form dough)

Ingredients for filling I used today:
-1 1/2 lbs. ground beef
-1 onion minced
-1 green bell pepper minced
-5 cloves garlic finely minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-salt to taste (about 1 1/2 teaspoon)
-1 heaping teaspoon sweet smoked spanish paprika
-3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (seems like a lot but it will be drained to be used to make the dough this oil will be very flavorful for the dough)
Directions:(1) Prepare filling by heating oil, sautee onions and bell peppers 5 minutes on medium high add meat season with salt and brown rendering the meats fat on medium high, then add garlic sautee until fragrant, then add sweet smoked spanish paprika stir a bit when fragrant add tomato sauce stir and raise heat, let the tomato reduce and oil starts frying it. Finally remove heat and put meat filling on a strainer to drain fat over a large bowl about 5 minutes which will be used to make dough mine yielded exactly 1/2 cup flavored oil.

(2) Set aside meat drained meat mixture and leave oil in large bowl, in large bowl add dry white wine, water, and salt, start stirring in flour little by little with your hand until the dough no longer sticks to your hand and becomes workable. Transfer to a floured surface, work dough.

(3) Stretch dough out on floured surface with a rolling pin, cut into round flat circles using whatever you have, put some meat filling and fold over, seal with a fork. DO NOT SEAL WITH WATER the dough is oily and water will not stick. It doesn't need egg either, just press well, and seal with fork. The dough tends to shrink, I cut it into circles from the rolled dough, then again roll out those circles individually to and proceed with adding filling and sealing.

(4) Heat oil on medium high to high (but not super high) to fry empanadas, fry until browned on all sides. Drain, set on a large plate with paper towels to absorb oil, I used a large baking pan.I didn't have enough filling to finish all the dough so we made a thin large one which ended up being delicious and crispy as well.
I served it with a raw salad for my late lunch

IMPORTANT PLEASE NOTE! Fillings can vary:
(1)Shredded "Fricasse de Pollo" which is a chicken stew (see recipe by clicking on link)
(2)Picadillo without the potatoes leftover see recipe for "Picadillo Salteado"
(3)Leftover "Ropa Vieja" (shredded beef)
(4)Or Pilar Lechuza's filling done in the old post which was a tasty ground pork filling click on link. It's in spanish though. The filling is basically ground pork sauteed in olive oil with onion, garlic, and a large grated tomato seasoned with salt and sweet smoked paprika
(5)Cooked rotisseri shredded chicken mixed with grated cheese of your choice (I like Monterrey jack)
(6)Any leftover meat dish in a sauce shredded. Take any meat cooked leftover meat, shred or chop finely it, sautee lots of minced onion, maybe garlic in olive oil, add a little tomato sauce maybe some sweet smoked spanish paprika and there's your filling.

P.S.

These came out delicious, just made they are very crispy and delicious, enjoy hot and fresh because over time if left out they lose their crispiness, you'd have to reheat them in the oven at 375 or something to get them crispy again. Or the toaster oven. So best enjoy fresh :)

ALSO I make another delicious Empanada dough that Marilyn from "My Cuban Traumas" taught me :) check out the post for "Empanadas Cubanas" larger meat pies are "Empanadas Gallega" (Galician Pies) I'll start making a larger variety of those in the winter using Pilar's knowledge and what I have available. :)

Higado a la Italiana de mi Tata (My Tata's Liver Stirfry with Onion and Bell Pepper "Italian Style")

Tata is what we call my grandmother in my family. She is like a walking Cuban cookbook, any recipe I wanna know I simply ask I'll get one for anything that's Cuban she knows a few Spaniard dishes here and there to.

Higado a la Italiana meaning liver Italian style is a Cuban dish which I have no clue why they named it "Italian style" maybe something to do with method of preparation of marination? No clue... all I know that the recipe became popular or known when Nitza Villapol the Cuban Julia Child who became a communist introduced this dish in her cookbook "Cocina al Minuto" also Mary Urrutia Randelman shared her family version of the dish "Higado a la Italiana"

My Tata's version is neither like Nitza's nor Mary Urrutia, the reason their version of the dish is disliked or not cooked in my house is because the liver is marinaded in a lot of liquid (a generous amount of wine and vinegar with flour, salt, garlic, and pepper) a long with julienned bell peppers, onions, and a couple bay leaves. The problem is Nitza's and Mary Urrutia recipes heat oil, add bell pepper and onion and then higher heat and add liver with all marinade and stir for a few minutes like 10 THERE IS THE PROBLEM, it just boils the liver in the marinade with the bell pepper and onion... we don't like liver to be boiled liver in my house, we dislike the texture and taste obtained it causes the liver to release it's own juices and just taste blah in my opinion. (Believe me I've prepared this dish Nitza's way)

My Tata everytime we cooked liver it would be fried in very very smoking high heat until well browned on all sides. My grandmother's version is as follows:

She get's liver cut into bite sizes, very well seasoned and marinaded in vinegar, salt, lots of garlic, and smokey cumin she then fries it in very hot oil until well browned and quickly stirfry's it together with julienned onions and bell peppers and finishes seasoning it with a touch oregano or if no oregano is wanted she fries the bay leaves in the hot oil, removes and continues with the recipe. I prefer this version any day :)

Now here's the recipe with pictorials to be more specific.

Ingredients:
-1 ½ lbs. beef liver
-12 cloves garlic (pressed through a garlic press or mashed in a mortar to a paste)
-1 teaspoon ground cumin
-1- 2 teaspoons salt
-2 tablespoons white vinegar
-2 medium onions julienne
-1 large or 2 small green bell peppers julienned
-1/2 teaspoon dried oregano or 2 bay leaves your choice (oregano is better in my opinion)
-more salt to taste as needed.
-1/2 cup cooking oil that can withstand high heat (canola, vegetable, corn, lard, etc. )

NOTE BEFORE I START:
I know it seems like A LOT of oil, but REMEMBER this is to fry the liver, you can drain and or take out some of the oil after the liver is fried, my grandmother leaves all the oil in their, my mom likes to drain some of it.

Directions:
(1) Beef liver washed, cleaned, remove nerves, silver skin, and fat leave as clean as possible even if you must waste some of the liver meat. I buy 1 ½ lbs because I end up throwing ½ after cleaning. HUGE TIP when buying liver make sure your butcher shows you all sides of it because if the entire back area or not seen area has lots of nerves and holes IT IS NO GOOD tell him to get you another because nerves and other bad parts curl and give a very hard texture sometimes. UNLESS YOU ARE POOR PLEASE JJUST CLEAN IT WELL AND REMOVE ANY QUESTIONABLE AREAS THE FINAL RESULT IS WORTH IT.

(2) Now cut liver into BITE sizes and toss with vinegar, cumin, salt, and garlic.

(3) Heat a heavy skillet or wok on HIGH HEAT with generous amounts of oil ALMOST enough to pan fry you need really hot nearly smoking temperature. (about 1/2 a cup) wait until the oil starts smoking (your gonna want windows open or that filter fan in kitchens)

(4) Add liver in one layer leave alone a couple minutes until browned about 10- 15 minutes then toss to flip or move around until it is almost cooked and not pink.

(7) Add onions and bell peppers as well as oregano or bay leave and cook until onions and bell peppers pic up drippings and get rid of raw taste of onion.

(8) IMMEDIATELY serve this is NO GOOD WHEN IT COOLS SERVE IMMEDIATELY! With some white rice and beans. BE SURE EVERYTHING IS READY OT SERVE BY THE TIME THIS IS COOKED THIS DISH IS MEANT TO BE EATEN AS FRESH AS POSSIBLE!

P.S.

She prepares this almost identical to "Higado a la Vizcaina" which is the same as this except no bell peppers, oregano, or bay leaf. Instead towards the end when the onions are soft you add cubed crispy deep-fried potatoes you previously fried and salted to add to this dish. I have a recipe post for that you can check if you like:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/07/higado-la-vizcaina-liver-la-vizcaina.html

In addition we also make "Higado Encebollado" (fried liver steaks with onions) marinaded the same way except whole steaks are fried set aside then in drippings lots of onions are fried and used to top the liver steak check it out here if you'd like to:

http://nathanscomida.blogspot.com/2008/09/higado-encebollado-con-papa-frita-liver.html

Potaje de Lentejas #4 (Lentil Stew #4)

I've tried many many versions of Cuban and Spanish style "Potaje de Lentejas" (Lentil Stew) my mother makes one that is delicious but missing something using "Emerils recipe" she uses a "Meripoix" (onion, celery and carrot) with the addition of garlic and tomato, bay leaves, salt and pepper nothing more nothing less. Simple but very delicious. My other Potaje de Lenteja recipes come out good, but I'm just not satisfied, someone in my household always ends up not liking something about whichever one.

So today I decided I am not gonna be ruled by cooking traditions or boundaries, I'm a make a Potaje de Lentejas my way, inspired by all the other recipes I've seen, the biggest inspiration being my mother's "Potaje" which I mentioned and the other being Pilar Lechuza's "Potaje de Lentejas (Lentejas Con Costilla de Cerdo).

I combined my mom's Meripoix by making a cuban sofrito with tomato with the addition of celery and carrot an idea also re-inforced by Pilar Lechuza except she adds leeks as well. Some Spanish Chorizo and chunks of pork typical in a Cuban and Spanish Potaje as well as cumin. And of course most Cuban Potaje's wouldn't be complete without potatoes and orange fleshed squash so I threw those in there. Then a heaping spoonful of sweet smoked spanish paprika that embodies the flavors of Spain. And I noticed bay leaves are almost always found in lentil stews so I threw those in too. I didn't have bacon on hand but I would sooooo love to use it in this recipe to :)

Ingredients:
-2 cups lentils washed and drained (about 1 lbs.)
-water (about 12 cups I don't measure it)
-1 onion diced finely
-1 green bell pepper diced finely
-3 carrots peeled and diced finely
-3 stalks celery diced finely
-1/2 head garlic finely minced
-1 can 8 oz. tomato sauce
-4-6 strips of bacon minced ( I didn't have any but if you do use it!)
-extra-virgin olive oil (as needed)
-1 1/2- 2 lbs. pork stew meat or beef stew meat cut into small pieces (1-2 inch cubes)
-1 small pork bone (I had it on hand)
-2 medium or 1/2 a large Spanish chorizo sliced casing removed
-1 tablespoon ground cumin
-1 tablespoon sweet smoked spanish paprika
-1/2 tablespoon or more to taste ground black pepper
-3 tsp. minimum salt (more to taste or less I guess)
-3 large potatoes peeled cut in half
-6 chunks of peeled Calabaza (such as Banana, Hubbard, Carribean, or Kabucha squash)

Directions:
(1) Heat olive oil on medium high heat, if you have bacon add it now and render it's fat. Then add sliced chorizo when it renders some fat and oil changes color add onion, carrot, celery, bell peppers and cook until transparent and fragrant like 5- 7 minutes then add garlic until fragrant, bay leaves for like 30- 60 seconds and tomato sauce.

(2) Mix in lentils, add water, sweet smoked spanish paprika, cumin, black pepper and salt. Bring to strong boil, add pork meat and bone. Bring back to boil skim of scum if any.

(3)Cover 30 minutes, then add calabaza and potato and cook another 20- 30 minutes until calabaza and potato are tender

Serve with bread in a large bowl, or with white rice. If you wish a salad to.

P.S.

I know I haven't blogged in a while but I've been busy with school, but I'll try to post when I can, love you all who support me :)