When I moved to Puerto Rico in December of 2017, I lived in Fajardo across the street from The House of Pastelillos on 7 Seas Beach. I love pastelillos, I’m pretty sure I was their best customer…. It is a fried dough half-moon shaped filled with chicken, fish, lobster, crab or anything that makes you happy. The oven baked version is its cousin the empanada. I found a shortcut when I’m in a hurry by using Pillsbury biscuit dough. This recipe calls for shredded swiss cheese and picadillo. Picadillo is a garlicky ground beef filling with olives, tomato sauce, peppers and onions plus seasonings and spices. Don’t worry, The Pink Papaya will guide you through the process with our step by step pictures, that everyone is loving and commenting on! Fun fact: in St. Thomas the pastelillos are called Patties. When I lived in St. Thomas I used to drive down the hill and stop at Giant Gas station they made them fresh all day long…So yummy! We will be visiting making this dough from scratch and fried in another post using lobster filling. Today we are going to introduce you to Beef and Cheese empanadas that are oven baked and dough is pre-made. We hope you enjoy it!
Beef & Cheese Empanadas
Ingredients
- 8 0 z. swiss cheese (shredded)
- 4 cans of Pillsbury dough
- Flour (As needed for flouring the surface of the prep area and rolling pin.)
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tablespoon of water
- 2 Lbs. of ground sirloin 95%/5%
- 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
- 12 Queen olives (8 quartered and 4 sliced for topping)
- ½ cup Onions (diced)
- ¼ cup of yellow peppers (diced)
- ¼ cup red peppers (diced)
- ¼ cup orange peppers (diced)
- 5 cloves of garlic (diced)
- 2 Tablespoons of Oregano fresh (diced)
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro (diced)
- ½ cup tomato marinara sauce
- 1 package of Sazon.
- 1/2 Tablespoon garlic salt
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons of McCormick Montreal seasoning.
Instructions
- Gather your ingredients (This makes the process quicker and smoother)
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.
- Place a large sauté pan on the stove and put on medium high heat.
- Add your olive oil to the skillet.
- Put your onions, garlic, ground sirloin, peppers, Sazon, garlic salt and McCormick Montreal seasoning into your skillet.
- Combine well in the pan and cook until golden brown.
- Add in your oregano, cilantro, olives, and marinara sauce. Mix thoroughly
- Cover and reduce heat to medium low. Let simmer for 10 minutes.
- Once 10 minutes are over, your picadillo’s flavors are well married and you can place in a large bowl to slightly cool. (set aside)
- In a small bowl, scramble the eggs and water together. (set aside)
- In another bowl fill with shredded swiss cheese.
- Get 2 sheet pans and line them with parchment paper.
- Let’s open our biscuit tubes.
- Lightly flouring your work surface and rolling pin
- Let’s start making skinny disks out of our dough by using our rolling pin.
- Get your dough disk and, using a spoon, fill halfway on one side.
- Place a spoonful of cheese on top.
- Fold over the empty side, to cover the meat and cheese filled side.
- Using a fork, crimp the edges shut. Or sealing one side with your finger, twisting the edges by constantly folding over and sealing the other edge with your finger.
- Place empanadas on a sheet pan lined with parchment.
- Using a brush, dip into your egg wash and brush your entire empanada with it.
- Sprinkle with cheese and slices of olives on top.
- Place into the oven and bake for 16-20 minutes or until golden brown.
- Once done remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes.
- Now it is time to serve and enjoy!
