Pastelillos de Carne

Cassie made this last night except she left out the olives and we stuffed them in egg roll wrappers instead of the traditional dough.

A Little Piece of Home: Pastelillos de Carne (Empanadas)

by MESEIDY on MARCH 22, 2009

Pastelillos de Carne (Empanadas PR Style)

A traditional treat back home in Puerto Rico is the “pastelillo” which is similar to an empanada, except the dough is a little different.  The dough for a pastelillo is very thin and flaky, most empanadas are a little denser.  If you ever visit my home of Puerto Rico you can find these sold at almost every side of the road kiosk, best with a cold malta, but maltas are an aquired taste.   These yummy treats come with all kinds of fillings, meat, crab, chicken, shrimp, cheese and even pizza.

When we lived in Florida, and I was craving some “pastelillos”  I would cook up the meat and go to the local bodega and get pre-made frozen dough.  However here in Tulsa, OK I am not sure where to go or if I could even find this dough.  So today when I decided to make these treats for my husband’s softball team to eat between games, they had a double header today, I knew I would have to make the dough myself.  I have never made the dough from scratch before so I was a little nervous, but they turned out delicious.  My husband was very excited to have such a special treat, we grew up on these back home. 

For me it was easiest to make the filling first and the then dough.

Pastelillos de Carne 20 servings

Filling:

• 1 lbs beef tips, diced
• 2 potatoes, diced
• 1 onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1/4 cup recaito
• 1 envelope of Sazon sin achiote
• 10 pimiento stuffed olives, cut in half
• olive oil
• Adobo (a staple in every Latin home, it’s magic seasoning)
• 2 bay leaves
• 1/2 cup water

Heat skillet at med-high, drizzle with olive oil.  Saute onions, garlic and recaito until onions are translucent. 

Drizzle beef with olive oil and season with Adobo.  (I never measure this but I am pretty generous with it) Add beef, potatoes, olives, bay leaves, Sazon and water  to skillet, stir and cover.  Simmer on a low heat for about 45 mins, or until meat is tender.