Star Anise Beef Empanadas Recipes

BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Make the dough: Put 2 cups boiling water, 4 ounces lard and 1 1/2 teaspoons salt in large mixing bowl. Stir to melt lard and dissolve salt. Cool to room temperature.
• Gradually stir in flour with a wooden spoon until dough comes together. Knead for a minute or two on a floured board, until firm and smooth. Add more flour if sticky. Wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Make the filling: Season chopped beef generously with salt and pepper and set aside for 10 minutes. Melt 3 tablespoons lard in a wide heavy skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef and fry until nicely browned, stirring throughout to keep pieces separate, about 5 minutes.
• Turn heat down to medium and add onion and chorizo. Keep turning mixture with a spatula, as if cooking hash, until onion is softened and browned, about 10 minutes. Add potatoes, garlic, thyme and marjoram and stir well to incorporate. (Add a little more fat to pan if mixture seems dry.) Season again with salt and pepper and let mixture fry for 2 more minutes. Stir in tomato paste, pimentón and cayenne, then a cup of broth or water. Turn heat to simmer, stirring well to incorporate any caramelized bits.
• Cook for about 10 more minutes, until both meat and potatoes are tender and the sauce just coats them - juicy but not saucy is what you want. Taste and adjust seasoning for full flavor (intensity will diminish upon cooling). Stir in scallions and cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until ready to use.
• Divide chilled dough into 1-ounce pieces and form into 2-inch diameter balls. Roll each piece into a 4 1/2-inch circle. Lay circles on a baking sheet lightly dusted with flour.
• Moisten outer edge of each round with water. Put about 2 tablespoons filling in the center of each round, adding a little chopped green olive and some hard-cooked egg to each. Wrap dough around filling to form empanada, pressing edges together. Fold edge back and finish by pinching little pleats or crimping with a fork.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Place empanadas on parchment-lined or oiled baking sheet, about 1 inch apart. Brush tops lightly with lard or butter and bake on top shelf of oven until golden, 10 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add onions, scallions, and bell pepper. Cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are translucent, 10 to 15 minutes.
• Add ground beef, oregano, salt, cayenne pepper, and cumin to the onion mixture. Cook and stir beef until no longer pink, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly, then cover and place in the refrigerator until meat is completely cooled, about 1 hour.
• Remove filling from the refrigerator and transfer into a colander to drain. Return filling to the Dutch oven.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C). Liberally grease a baking sheet with butter.
• Place about 2 tablespoons filling into the center of an empanada disc. Fold empanada in half into a crescent shape, press the edges of the dough together with a fork or your fingers to seal, and place onto the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with remaining empanadas and filling. Brush tops with egg white.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• For the filling: Add the oil to a skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onions, sofrito, and peppers, stirring occasionally until soft. Add the tomato paste, adobo, and cilantro, stirring occasionally until combined. Add the ground beef, season, and stir until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F. Remove from the heat, strain, and allow the mixture to cool.
• For the empanada dough: Sift the flour, sugar, and salt onto parchment paper. Place the sifted dry ingredients into a food processor. Add the remainder of the ingredients to the food processor and process until the dough looks like a ball. Remove the ball from the food processor and cover it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
• Transfer the pastry onto a lightly floured board and roll out until it is 1/16-inch thick. Cut into segments with a 4-inch dough cutter. Each cut will create a dough round. Put 1 tablespoon of the filling onto the upper half of each round, and then fold the bottom pastry up into a half-moon shape. Crimp the edges closed with your finger to fold the upper and bottom halves together. Repeat this step until all the edges are closed.
• For the guava sauce: Blend all the ingredients in a food processor until the mixture is silky and smooth. Pour the sauce in a separate dish or bowl for dipping.
• Put about 2 inches of oil into a heavy, deep skillet over medium heat and heat to 350 degrees F. Add the empanadas, a few at a time, and cook until golden brown on both sides, about 5 minutes per side.

BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Make the pie crust according to package directions. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
• Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
• In a small bowl mix together the egg with the cold water to create an egg wash. Set aside.
• Divide the dough into 6 even pieces, and roll each into a ball. On a floured work surface roll out each piece of dough, with a rolling pin, into 1/4-inch thick rounds about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Using a small bowl as a template cut around to form perfect circles.
• Break the leftover Salisbury Steak into small pieces and add it to a bowl with the leftover Brown Gravy. Stir to combine.
• Put a heaping tablespoon of the meat mixture into the middle of each piece of dough. Brush the edges of the circles with egg wash. Fold the dough over the filling to form a half circle. Press the edges together and seal them again with the tines of a fork to make pretty borders. Brush the tops of the empanadas with the egg wash. Arrange the empanadas on a sheet pan and bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Remove the empanadas from the oven to a serving platter and serve.

CHINESE STYLE BEEF IN A STAR ANISE AND SOY MARINADE

Steps:

• Place all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl and mix well. Add the steak and mix to cover with the marinade. Leave to marinade for an hour.
• Heat the oil in a hot wok. Add the beef and the marinade and fry for 3-4 minutes until the meat is browned. Drain off any excess liquid from the beef that may arise from the cooking process.
• Add any vegetables you might wish to create a stir fry.

BEEF STEW WITH STAR ANISE

Steps:

• Pour the stock into a large, heavy pan. Add the beef, garlic, chopped coriander roots, cinnamon sticks, star anise, soy sauce, fish sauce and sugar. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes.
• Skim off any form that rises to the surface of the liquid with a slotted spoon.
• Meanwhile, divide the bean sprouts among four individual serving bowls. Remove and discard the cinnamon sticks and star anise from the stew with a slotted spoon.
• Ladle the stew over the bean sprouts, garnish with the chopped scallions and chopped fresh coriander (cilantro) and serve immediately.

ARGENTINEAN-INSPIRED BEEF MINI EMPANADAS

Steps:

• Prepare filling: Cook ground beef, onion, bell pepper, and garlic in a large, nonstick skillet over medium to medium-high heat until vegetables are tender and beef is browned and crumbly, about 10 minutes. Add olives, paprika, cumin, salt, and pepper. Stir in chopped eggs.
• Scrape mixture into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until fully chilled, 1 to 2 hours; this ensures the dough will not be soggy when the empanadas are baked.
• Prepare dough: Whisk flour and salt together in a medium bowl until combined. Cut in butter with a pastry blender until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
• Whisk cold water, egg, and vinegar together in a small bowl. Pour into the dry ingredients and blend with a fork. Use your hands to finish blending the ingredients until they come together in a ball. Flatten the ball into a disc, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 1 hour.
• When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface. Use a 3-inch round cutter to cut circles, rerolling the scraps as necessary. I got about 18 circles.
• Hold each circle in your hand and place a heaping tablespoon of filling in the center. Gently fold the ends over the top and press to seal all the way around. Reserve extra filling for another use.
• Set empanadas on a baking sheet. Press around the sealed edges with a fork if desired.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown on the bottoms, about 18 minutes. Flip and bake until the other side is browned, about 5 more minutes.

ANISE BEEF

Steps:

• Trim as much fat as possible from the beef.
• If using a nonstick pan, no oil is necessary. Otherwise, heat oil in skillet. Add beef to hot pan and brown on all sides.
• Reduce heat to low and add soy sauce, 3 tablespoons water, sherry, star anise and five-spice powder. Cover and gently simmer meat until it is tender, about two hours, cooking for one hour on one side, and turning to cook after the first hour on the second side. Depending on the amount of fat, it will take 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours to cook.
• When meat is tender, remove from pan and cool. Add the remaining 1 cup water to the pan, and heat the juices to serve over meat.
• Serve meat at room temperature or chilled.

STAR ANISE BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• For filling: Combine water, soy sauce, Scotch, sugar, gingerroot, cinnamon, zest, and star anise and simmer mixture 10 minutes. Add beef shanks and cook, partially covered, at a bare simmer 2 hours, or until meat is very tender. Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to cutting board. Remove gingerroot, cinnamon sticks, zest, and star anise from broth and discard. Toss carrots and kabocha squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roast for about 30 minutes until tender. While roasting vegetables, discard bones and gristle and cut meat across grain into thin slices. For Dough: Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some butter lumps. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Form and bake empanadas: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and form each into a disk. Roll out 1 piece on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 5-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling onto center and fold dough in half, enclosing filling. Press edges together to seal, then crimp decoratively with your fingers or tines of a fork. Transfer empanada to a baking sheet. Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.