$3ADDP: Empanadas

Here I am looking through my Google Reader that's full of delicious recipes and I come across this amazing picture of empanadas. I've decided to come up with an inexpensive empanada recipe that I'll be able to use during this $3 a Day Diet Project.

What's a delicious low cost filling? Well ground beef of course, but still to expensive to meet at $3 a day limit. To stretch the beef, I'll use beans or potatoes to stretch the filling. But what of the vegetable requirement? I'm figuring some tomatoes in the mix with side salad to accompany the empanadas. And the whole wheat aspect? 50% whole wheat in the empanada dough. Healthy, cheap and delicious!

You know what else is awesome? It's easy to pre-prep, freeze and bake up for future meals. A coup in my opinion.

Here is the recipe for the empanada dough edited from a recipe on epicurious.com:

• 1 cups unbleached all-purpose flour ($0.18)
  
• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour ($.27)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt ($0.02)
  
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes ($1.12)
  
• 1 large egg ($0.17)
  
• 1/3 cup ice water ($0.00)
  
• 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar ($0.05)
  

Sift flours with salt 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.

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.)

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. Makes 12 servings at $0.15 each.

I thought about exactly how much filling I would need to meet less than 4 oz of meat for the day. Hubby will probably want meat with every meal which means the 4 oz. of meat protein per day will need to be spread into 2 oz. per meal. Assuming 2 empanadas for dinner, less than 1 oz per empanada is about right.

Empanada filling:

• 8 oz. ground beef ($2.25)
  
• 8 oz. refried beans ($0.66)
  
• 1/2 head of onion ($0.08)
  
• 1/4 head of garlic ($0.06)
  
• 1 diced tomato ($0.16)
  
• 1 1/2 teaspoon salt ($0.02)
  
• 1 teaspoon pepper ($0.04)
  
• 1 teaspoon cumin($0.04)
• 1 teaspoon chili powder ($0.04)
• 2 oz oil ($0.06)

Put 2 oz of oil in a skillet. Brown onions and garlic. Add ground beef and cook until browned. Add diced tomato, the can of refried beans, salt, pepper, cumin, and chili powder. Mix until well incorporated and heat the mixture all the way through. Put into a bowl and allow to cool. Makes enough filling for 12 empanadas for $0.28 a piece).

Empanada Recipe:

Cut the empanada dough into 12 equal parts. Work with each ball one at a time and leave the rest of the dough refrigerated. Roll into a ball and flatten into discs large enough to place 1/12 of the filling into. Make sure that the dough is thick enough so that it can hold the filling but as thin as possible. Fold over and close the edges with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and continue with the rest of the pieces of dough in the same manner. Bake at 375 for 15-20 minutes until browned. Makes 12 empanadas at $0.43 a piece.

These figures might change when I actually complete the recipe. Right now, it's completely theoretical.