Name: Beef-Filled Turnovers (Empanadas de Carne)
Yield: Thirty-two 5-inch semicircular turnovers
Cuisine: Italian
Ingredients: 1 teaspoon ground cumin, optional; ¼ cup sugar; 5 large eggs, hard-cooked and chopped (see Note); 1½ quarts vegetable oil, such as corn or canola, for frying the empanadas; 3 teaspoons salt; 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened; 1 pound ground chuck; ¾ cup pitted Spanish green olives; 1 large white onion (about 12 ounces), finely chopped; 1 teaspoon salt; 2 tablespoons sugar; 1 egg yolk cold water; 3 tablespoons vegetable oil; 1 tablespoon aji molido or sweet Spanish paprika; ½ cup dark raisins; ¾ cup water; 1 bunch scallions, white and half the green part, thinly sliced, about ¾ cup; 4 cups all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off); 3 teaspoons baking powder

Preparation info

Thirty-two
5 inch semicircular turnovers

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

A Baker's Tour

By Nick Malgieri

Published 2005

About

Ana Rambaldi is one of the most gifted home cooks and bakers I know. She often stays up half the night preparing her specialties, such as these empanadas from her native Argentina. All but one of the ingredients are easy to find wherever you shop. The filling is flavored with an Argentine type of crushed red pepper that is not hot, called aji molido, or ground pepper. Ana says you can substitute sweet Spanish paprika, but the taste will not be exactly the same. In typical S