Beef Carnitas Empanada

CIndytc's Note:

A cooking light recipe that I put my own spin on as the reviews for the dough were not good, so I tried the refrigerated pie dough and they turned out great... Cooking time does not count the 1 1/2 hours for the beef carnita sauce to simmer. you can make your own empanada dough if desired.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 30 mins
• Prep Time: 2 hrs
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 8

Yield: 1.0 pie

Beef Carnita Filling

• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 garlic cloves , crushed
• 2 lbs beef stew meat , trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1 cup beef broth
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
• 1 unpeeled orange wedge , large

Filling

• 2 cups vertically sliced onions
• 1 cup sliced green bell pepper
• 1 cup chopped seeded tomato
• ¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 3 cups beef , carnita filling
• 2 refrigerated pie crusts

Directions:

1. To prepare Beef Carnita:.
2. HEat a large dutch oven over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion; saute 4 minutes or until tender. Add garlic; saute 5 minutes or until beef is browned on all sides. Stir in broth, sugar, salt, and pepper; nestle orange section into beef mixture. Bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 1 1/2 hours or until beef is tender. Remove and discard orange. Continue simmering, uncovered, 8 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, sirring frequently. (Makes 4 cups).
3. To prepare Filling:.
4. heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Add onion and bell pepper; saute 5 minutes or until onion begins to brown. Stir in tomato, red pepper, and 1/4 teaspoons salt; saute 2 minutes. Stir in Beef Carnitas; cook for 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat; cook to room temperature.
5. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
6. roll out one pie dough onto plastic to be 11" circle. Repeat procedure with the other pie dough. Place wrap side up dough onto a large baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Spoon filling onto dough, leaving a 1" border around edge.Place other dough onto top of filled one. remove plastic wrap on top. Pinch edges together to seal. Cut several slits in top of dough to allow steam to escape.
7. Bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes or until crust in crisp and beginning to brown. Cut into 8 wedges.