Venison Sausage Stuffed Empanadas

These are a little time intensive but worth it!  I like that they are baked and not fried and that I used butter rather than lard.  Butter makes a dense dough, lard creates a flaky dough.  There’s just something about lard that makes me uneasy.  I’ll eat it (tortillas) but if I’m cooking… I’d rather cook with butter personally 🙂

Prep: 2 hrs

Cook: 1 hr

Serves: 4

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 2 1/4 C. flour
• 1 very cold stick of butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 TBS white vinegar
• 3/4 C. of ice cld water
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt, finely ground
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp fresh finely ground pepper

Venison Sausage Mixture:

• 1lb Venison pan sausage (from a hunter friend)
• 1/2 Large yellow onion, diced
• 1 large shallot, diced
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 1TBS parsley, dried
• 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
• Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Dough Instructions:

1. Sift flour with salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and garlic powder into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.
2. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.)
3. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand, just enough to bring dough together. Roll dough out into a large rectangle on a floured space and cut out 10-15 circles with a large cup or cookie cutter.  (I use a cup that’s about 4″ diameter).
4. Refrigerate floured dough circles for about 30-45 min before filling.

Sausage Instructions:

1. Use fresh pan sausage:  Heat large skillet on medium high and add meat, onions, shallots, and garlic.  Cook thoroughly, 15-20 min.
2. Drain fat/juices
3. Add spice and then salt and pepper to taste.
4. Set aside in bowl

Additional/Optional Ingredients

• Cheese
• Mashed sweet potatoes
• 1 Egg, beaten for wash

To make the empanadas:

1. Take a circle of dough and add a mound of meat mixture to center (add a pinch of cheese if desired) and fold circle in half and seal with a dull fork (pressing down all the way around the dough to make a half circle).
2. Continue until meat or dough is gone.
3. Brush empanadas with egg wash. (Beaten egg)
4. Bake for 25-35 min @ 350 degrees

Serve with Sriracha

I filled some of the empanadas with mashed sweet potatoes, they were good too!

Venison