
There’s nothing tastier than a pork butt or shoulder roast slow cooked in a crockpot or in the oven. It’s one of those things that can cook in the background while you go about your business. I usually season my pork butt or shoulder with a rub of fresh garlic, sea salt, cumin, a little ground coffee and onion powder (with a little olive oil thrown in). I know you’re thinking ground coffee? What the heck? But it really is tasty. Not too much just a few teaspoons but it really amps up the other flavors. It’s a pretty basic rub down because I like to add other spices to the pulled pork later on to make different dishes out of the same piece of roast. A good size pork roast can yield BBQed pulled pork sandwiches, or tacos and burritos. I’ve even made pulled pork momos, tamales and potstickers. Who can go wrong with a well done pig?
This time I decided to make pork Empanadas out of the pulled pork. It was fast and worked well for a weekday dinner with a fresh slaw made with red cabbage. The leftovers are great for lunch the next day too. Everybody at your work will want some of your lunch as soon as you start heating it up. Guaranteed!
On a side note. Today, July 6th, I finally finished off the Master Cleanse. I was so excited to eat real food. I was thinking about it last night going to bed and dreaming up what I’d make for breakfast. I thought of eating these Empanadas but didn’t feel like that for breakfast. So, I decided to make an egg white frittata with caramelized onions and asparagus spears and fresh basil. I was super excited. I took two bites and couldn’t eat another thing. I got kind of nauseous. I guess I have to slow down and eat a few little things. Let my body catch up slowly. I ate only raw vegetables and fruits yesterday so today I should be able to ease into real food. We shall see. On the bright side, I do feel really, really good and I think I will try this again next year some time, maybe not for the whole 21 days though.
Pulled Pork Empanadas
Empanada dough:
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 large egg yolk (save the egg white for the egg wash)
1/3 cup ice water
1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Pulled Pork Filling:
1 1/2 pound of cooked, pulled pork
1/2 onion, diced
4 tbsp oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 bunch fresh cilantro, chipped
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup water
Egg wash:
egg white, beaten
1 tsp water
For the dough: Combine the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until combined, add butter and pulse a few times until it resembles coarse meal.
Mix together the egg yolk, water, and vinegar in a measuring cup. Add the mixture to the dough, pulsing until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a work surface and gently knead until it just comes together. Form the dough into a disk, wrap with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before rolling out.
For the filling: Heat oil in a sauce pan and saute the onion, garlic and jalapeno together until onions are translucent and the garlic is flavorful. Add in cumin and water and simmer over low heat for about 3 minutes. Toss in cilantro leaves before turning off the heat.
Assembly: Roll out the Empanada dough into 5 – 6 inch circle (I was making a little larger ones because it was for dinner). Place 1/4 cup (or more if you want it fuller) of meat mixture on one end of the dough. Bring the other half over the meat mixture and using a fork crimp the edges. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Whisk together egg white and water and brush each empanada. Bake at 400°F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
You are my kind of gal. Pork butt and master cleanse in the same post. I started my day with a super green phyto/micro nutrient rich fresh juice and ended it with raspberry cheesecake ice cream made with sweetened condensed milk. ok – that was a bit of an extreme day 🙂
hahaha. I’m off the cleanse and it’s been a little intense trying to figure out how to moderate myself!
I know that I have never made an Empanada, and I mostly sure that I have never eaten one.
Looks a lot like a calzone !!
This will be #652,853 on my “to do” list !
Looks very good.
It may look like a Calzone but tastes totally different. The dough is not yeasty or bready but more flaky. Really good!
I have the pork in the freezer… hmm. 🙂
Watch it Dave, getting dangerously close to baking there!!
Ha, yes, you’re right. 🙂
Damn they look so good. You need cool hands to deal with pastry and my hot puds are just no good at it!
Hi. It’s Trish. We met at Red Butte. Enjoyed visiting with you. Congrats on getting through your cleanse and meeting your weight loss goal. Love your receipes. Will keep checking back for more.
Hi Trish!! I’m so glad you came by the blog to check things out. It was very wonderful to meet you guys. I will see you when we walk by to get to the cheap seats when Diana Krall is in town!!
We’ll be looking for you! Good luck with your family reunion. Still trying to come up with things you might want to do, but think you pretty much covered all the bases. I’ll be thinking of you when I have my little family here, and be thankful that it’s nothing compared to what you’ll be coordinating.
Yum! Yum! These are beautiful and I’m sure they tasted very good. 🙂
Unfortunately, I didn’t get to taste any this time as I was still on my cleanse, but I’ll make some more soon and have it now that I’m officially off the cleanse!!
Darn the luck! Hope your cleanse is going well!
Congratulations! I am really impressed that you made it the entire 21 days! That is a total accomplishment. But I imagine that it’s going to take some time to readjust to eating food-food again.
I hope you froze some of the empanadas because they look amazing!
Alas, the empanadas are all gone, but I’ve made them before so I know what they taste like. I’ll make some other food tomorrow and try eating some slowly. I had a little Ethiopian food tonight at a cooking demo that a chef friend was doing and I didn’t get sick so it’s all good I think. I made my 15 pound weight loss goal though!!
I *must* try coffee in spic blends. Have you ever tried ‘Branston Pickle’? It would go so nicely with these 🙂
I’ve never heard of a Branston Pickle. What are they?
Actually …It is not a ‘Branston’ that gets pickled. That’s just the name for this particular recipe (like ‘Lady Ashburnam Pickles’, for example). Branston Pickle is a great favourite in Britain. We can get it in Canada and also it is available here in the North but many people in this country are not actually familiar with it. It is several different things (onion, cucumber etc) pickled in a tangy-sweet brown sauce that is a bit like HP sauce and included tamarind … It is most popular with the very English ‘Pork Pies’ … Your Empanada’s made me think of that.
I can’t wait to try this!
OOOOH, they are awesome so if you try them, do let me know how they turned out for you!