Empanadas for school

empanadas
Originally uploaded by EatingVideo

The boy volunteered me make food for almost 30 people in his spanish class. It was to be a latino food. We ran through some options, maybe arroz con pollo, paella but all seemed to difficult to transport and make 24 hrs in advance. We settled on empanadas as it is a ubiquotous dish in latin america (with regional variations) and the baked version was easier to mass produce in our kitchen than the fried kind.
I started on the filling, making a sofrito of carrots, onion, green pepper, celery, garlic, and shallots



and cooked it down.



Then we cooked some ground beef, browned in a pan with garlic, salt and a pinch of sugar.



The meat and sofrito was combined, chopped cilantro and oregano added, then on to the assembly



a couple of spoons of filling in premade (store bought) empanada wrappers



we crimped the edges



brushed them with an egg wash, and baked them at 375 degrees for around 20 minutes, till they looked like this



We made 60 (judging two per person) as far as the boy says people liked them. Will need to make some for the family next.