Pasteis De Carne (fried Pastries With Meat Filling)

Derf's Note:

These sound delicious, this is posted by request via email for "Rachel", they sound so good I may try them myself soon. From "Latin American Cooking, A treasury of recipes from the South American countries, Mexico and the Caribbean" Susan Bensusan.

• Total Time: 2 hrs 55 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 2 hrs 25 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 24 pastries

Pastry

• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 10 tablespoons shortening, melted to lukewarm
• 1/2 cup milk, mixed with
• 1/2 cup hot water

Filling

• 2 tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, smashed
• 2 tomatoes, peeled,seeded and chopped
• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
• 1 hard-boiled egg, chopped
• 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, chopped
• 8 green olives, chopped
• oil (for deep frying)

Directions:

1. To prepare the pastry, sift the flour and salt into a bowl.
2. Add the melted shortening and warm milk and water.
3. Mix to a smooth dough and cut into 2 pieces.
4. To prepare the filling, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onion and garlic and fry for 5 minutes until soft and golden.
5. Add the tomatoes, ground beef and salt.
6. Simmer for 20 minutes until almost dry.
7. Remove from the heat.
8. Add the chopped parsley, egg, cheese and olives and mix well.
9. To assemble pastries, roll out the pastry on a floured board to 1/8 inch thickness.
10. Cut 12, 4 inch circles from each piece, 24 circles.
11. Place 1 tablespoon filling on each circle and moisten around the edge with warm water.
12. Fold over and seal the edges well.
13. Deep fry in preheated 375f degree oil for 4 to 5 minutes until golden and crisp.
14. Remove with slotted spoon and drain on absorbent paper towel.
15. The pastries are also delicious cold and make good picnic fare.
16. They may also be made without the ground beef.
17. Variation to replace ground beef, use finely chopped ham, chopped chicken, or shrimp.

Reviews

[Chef #1009963]

This is the pastry recipe I'll be using from now on. It's absolutely reliable.

[*Yani*]

Love the ease of the pastry, but I make the filling without the egg. I add 1/2 green bell pepper,1/2 a red bell pepper, more garlic (YUM!)and 2 to 3 chopped basil leaf (fresh if @ hand)1 can of tomato sauce ,OH! and skip the cheese. If you want dessert use the same pastry but fill with guava paste and cream cheese (but thats another recipe)This would be cuaban empanadas what I just decribed.

[Chabear01]

Made these exactly as the recipe directed. Loved the ease of the pastry, and making these, but found the meat filling a bit bland without the salsa. I will be adding a bit of salsa next time I make these instead of the tomatoes just to put a bit of zip into the filling.