Sunday Dinner: Empanadas

The first time I ever had (or even heard of) Empanadas was a couple years ago (or so) when we went to St. Augustine and met one of my Cousins for the first time.

My Cousin knew of this Spanish Bakery in the Old Spanish Village, and took us there for lunch.
It was the first time we - me, J, or the boys - had Empanadas and we all agreed they were really good.

After that I looked around to see if I could find a recipe to make them at home, and I did finally find an easy one I thought I could manage...and Pinned it and forgot about it, lol.

Sometimes I go back through my old Pins on some of my Boards to see if anything I had Pinned jumps out at me, and sure enough, Empanadas. (<~ Click for recipe.)

(I made a particular point to read, read, and re-read the directions!)

I browned my 1 pound of ground...(pork. It's cheaper than beef) and chopped onions (calls for medium size onion, I just put in how much I thought we'd like, not too much).
Drained the grease, then added the can of diced tomatoes with chilis, 1/2 tsp. of chili powder, and 1/4 tsp. salt.

How easy was that?!
That was so easy!

Would have been even easier to use refrigerated pie crust dough, but no way I want to spend 10 times (guesstimate) more buying pre-made dough when I could whip up my own just as (nearly) easily, but for sure way cheaper.
(1 cup self-rising flour, 1/3 cup shortening, 2 tblsps. cold water)

Even though the photo at the recipe site looks to show smaller, handheld size Pies, the recipe seems to say to make a couple of large ones, like 8 or 9-inch pie shell size.
I decided to make mine saucer-sized (which were still a bit big, I thought. I'll probably use something smaller next time).

I filled half the shells with the meat filling, then grated Monterey Jack cheese on top.

I brushed beaten egg around the edges of the shell...
(I don't have a pastry brush, I just used the back of the spoon. Same diff)
and sealed the edges together with a fork.

Bake at 400° for 20-25 minutes.

They turned out yummy!