2 Recipes from 2 lbs. of Ground Beef: Empanadas & Tamale Pie
As a person who feeds a lot of people, it’s important to be able to stretch my ingredients – not only so I get the most bang for my buck, but also because I don’t have time to run to the grocery store all the time! So today I want to show you how to get two scrumptious recipes out of two pounds of ground beef: Empanadas (the savory, Argentine kind) and Tamale Pie. You read that correctly…TAMALE PIE!
In Mexico, empanadas are usually sweet and considered a dessert. But of course I’m the wife of an Argentine farm boy, so I learned to make them the way he likes them. One of the most important ingredients in these empanadas is the paprika. It really adds to the taste and I highly recommend NOT leaving it out. Another important aspect of this recipe is that there are small amounts of a lot of different ingredients. Be sure you cut everything into small pieces and don’t use too much of any one ingredient. If you omit an ingredient, don’t try to overcompensate with another ingredient. Keep a nice balance with all the ingredients so that the flavors blend.
NOTE: If you can’t find La Saltena frozen empanada pastry — or “tapas” — at your market, you can buy them online on Amazon.com or at one of the vendors on our Resources Page. You can also buy frozen pie dough, roll it out, and cut it into circles roughly 5″ in diameter!
Of course, you can make these with shredded or ground chicken, turkey or pork, and you can even blend the meat, but traditionally these are made with ground beef.
- 1/2 pound of ground beef
- 1 package of La Saltena frozen tapas (aka empanada pastry) one dozen
- 1/2 cup diced bell peppers (any color)
- 1/2 cup diced onions
- 1/2 cup diced tomato
- 1/2 cup diced potato
- 1/2 cup shredded carrot
- 3 cloves of garlic chopped
- 1/3 cup of tomato sauce
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of pepper
- 1 Teaspoon of smoked paprika
- 1/4 Teaspoon of cumin
- A pinch of grated nutmeg
- 1 Teaspoon of white wine or white wine vinegar
- A pinch of sugar
- 1/4 cup of green olives
- 1/4 cup of frozen peas
- 1 chopped hard-boiled egg
- 1/4 cup of Italian parsley
Begin by browning the ground beef on medium heat. After meat is cooked through, drain any excess oil. Add the tomato sauce, bell peppers, onions, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, and garlic. Add the paprika, cumin, nutmeg, salt, and pepper to the meat/veggie mixture and combine thoroughly. Add the pinch of sugar and the vinegar, and cook on low for 15 minutes.
When veggies are nice and tender add the hard-boiled egg, peas, green olives, and Italian parsley. Take a taste – add more salt if necessary. Thoroughly mix all ingredients and turn off heat. Let meat mixture cool about 15 minutes before making empanadas. When tapas (empanada pastry) are fully defrosted place on floured cookie sheet and start to assemble the empanadas. Place 2 tablespoons of meat mixture into each tapa, then fold over and use fork to close ends. Brush with egg wash and place in oven for 25 minutes at 380 degrees until golden brown.
And now for the Tamale Pie!
The “tamale” part of this pie refers to the polenta topping; it’s almost identical to the corn masa used when making traditional Mexican tamales. This recipe is similar to Shepherd’s Pie, only spicier! Serve this comfort food with a fresh salad; maybe arugula and tomato with a light vinegrette dressing.
As with the empanadas, you can make this with different meats. Ground turkey, chicken or shredded pork would all work well.
NOTE: This absolutely has to be made in a cast iron skillet! NO EXCEPTIONS! The entire dish will bake in the skillet, and you can’t bake a Teflon pan with plastic handles in an oven!
Polenta topping:
- 1 cup of instant polenta (recommended: Presto Pronta, available at amazon.com)
- 1 grilled corn on the cob or frozen grilled corn (Trader Joes has excellent frozen grilled corn!)
- 3 cups of low sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup of cheddar cheese
- 1 stick of butter
- Salt and pepper
Meat filling:
- 1 ½ lb. of ground sirloin
- 1 chopped tomato
- ½ cup of white onion
- ½ cup of red or green bell pepper
- *1 roasted pablano pepper or a 4oz.can of Ortega mild fire-roasted diced green chiles
- 2 cloves of garlic (recommended: Dorot garlic cubes, available in freezer section of most grocery stores)
- ½ cup of beef broth
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon of tomato paste (Trader Joes makes great tomato paste, too!)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Pinch of sugar
- A splash of white wine vinegar
- ½ teaspoon cumin
- ½ teaspoon sweet paprika
Heat oven to 385 degrees.
While the oven is heating up, drizzle some olive oil into a cast iron skillet, turn on heat to medium, add the ground sirloin and cook until brown. Drain out excess oil.
Add the onions, bell peppers, pablano chile, tomato, and garlic. Cook until the onions are translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
Stir in the tomato paste and beef broth. Season the whole meat and vegetable mixture with cumin, paprika, salt, and pepper. Add the white wine vinegar, the bay leaf, and a pinch sugar. Thoroughly combine all ingredients, then taste to adjust the seasonings. Let simmer for 5 more minutes.
In a separate sauce pan, heat the 3 cups of low sodium chicken broth and add 1 teaspoon of salt. When broth comes to a boil slowly whisk in the polenta.
Add the butter and half of the cheddar cheese. When everything is combined and the polenta is nice and creamy, pour the entire mixture into the skillet, covering the meat. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top.
Put the entire skillet in the oven and cook for 8 minutes, or until the polenta is nice and fluffy.
*To roast the pablano chile: Place directly on grate of gas burner with flame turned to medium. Roast until charred on all sides, turning with tongs. Transfer to a Ziploc bag, and let it steam until the skin slides off easily. Discard skin and stem, dice the rest, and add to the meat mixture with the other vegetables.
