Pastelillos My Way Recipes

Steps:

• Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and stir beef in the hot skillet until browned and crumbly, 5 to 7 minutes. Add onion, tomato sauce, olives, sofrito, sazon, garlic, and oregano. Bring to a simmer and cook until mixture thickens, about 15 minutes.
• Spoon 1 heaping tablespoon of meat mixture into the middle of a disco. Fold dough over, moisten edges, and press with a fork to seal. Repeat with remaining meat mixture and discos.
• Pour oil into a saucepan and heat over medium-high heat. Fry pastelillos until golden brown and bubbly, about 3 minutes each. Drain on paper towels before serving.

Steps:

• In a skillet, saute oil, recaito, sazon and adobo. Mix well.
• Break up meat and add to skillet. Cook until browned. Add hot sauce if desired.
• On a floured surface, place discos. Fill each with a tablespoon of meat.
• Wet the edge of the discos, fold over and seal with a fork.
• Fry in about a cup of cooking oil; Flip when golden brown.

Steps:

• For the corn dough: Add the cornmeal, coconut sugar and sea salt to a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Turn the stand mixer to a low speed and add 3 1/2 cups water followed by the melted butter. Once it starts to come together, turn the mixer to medium speed and mix for 5 minutes. Cover with plastic wrap touching the dough and allow to rest for 1 hour at room temperature. Once the dough has rested, make 24 equal-size balls, approximately the size of an ice cream scoop. Place all on a tray and cover with a damp towel to prevent drying out.
• For the filling: While the dough is resting, preheat a large rondeau pan to high heat. Add the vegetable oil and immediately add the ground meats. Saute until half-cooked, breaking up the meat as small as possible using a potato masher. Reduce the heat to medium-high, and then add the onions and saute for a couple of minutes until they start to soften. Add the garlic and continue to cook for another minute. Add the dried herbs and chiles and saute for 1 minute. Add the olives, raisins, chicken stock, tomato paste, capers and Worcestershire, and simmer over medium heat until the liquid is almost fully reduced and the meat comes to a paste-like consistency. Season with salt and then allow to cool fully.
• For assembly: Cover your prep surface with several layers of newspaper (this can be a messy job). Using an 8-inch pastelle/tortilla press, place a piece of a 16-inch long aluminum foil strip on the bottom of the press and top with a banana leaf. Lightly coat the banana leaf with oil and place a dough ball on top, rolling the ball over the leaf to coat it in oil. Brush a square of aluminum foil liberally with some vegetable oil and place on top of the corn dough ball. Press the dough using the pastelle/tortilla press until it becomes a flat, round piece of dough. Set aside the top square of foil to reuse.
• Remove the bottom piece of aluminum foil, banana leaf and flattened dough to a flat surface and place approximately 2 heaping tablespoons of the cooled meat filling on half of the dough, starting from the center out towards the edge, making sure to leave about a 1/2-inch rim of dough around the edge. Fold the half-moon of uncovered dough over the meat using the banana leaf and aluminum foil and press the edges together. Fold into a rectangular package, by first rolling it then sealing the ends by folding with the banana leaf and foil. Repeat until all the packages are complete.
• Bring a large pot of water to the boil and place as many packages as you want in the water until fully cooked and heated through, about 20 minutes. Remove from the water with tongs and place on a tray to cool enough so you can handle it, approximately 2 minutes.
• For the avocado cilantro root puree: Put the avocado, lemon juice and cilantro root in a food processor and process until very smooth. Season with salt and pepper, and then transfer to a non-reactive bowl. Cover and refrigerate until ready to serve.
• Serve the pastelles hot with the avocado cilantro root puree.

Steps:

• On medium high in a large pan, cook the ground beef and drain extra fat. To the cooked beef, add in the rice, cilantro and salt to taste. Cook for about 2 more minutes to heat thru. Set aside and let cool for about 7-10 minute.
• Meanwhile, In a large bowl, mix the masa harina, paprika, chicken bullion and pepper.
• Using a Pastry blender or fork, cut the lard into the masa mix until the masa is crumbly and the lard is pea size or smaller.
• Add the warm water, 1 cup at a time, to the masa and using your hands, mix well until the water is fully incorperated. The masa should not be sticky or dry. If it is sticky add a little bit more masa (1 tspn at a time) or if it is dry add water (1 tbspn at a time).
• Rub a little bit of cooking oil into your hands to make the following step easier. Take out about 2 table spoons of masa and roll into a ball. Using a tortilla press or a rolling pin, make the ball into the size of tortilla but be careful not to roll out to thin. The thickness has to be twice as thick as a tortilla or about the thickness of a pita bread. If it is too thin, the pies will not hold when you stuff them.
• Heat your deep fry oil on a large frying pan on medium high heat (almost high heat).
• Place rolled out dough on a flate surface and add about 2 tablespoons of the beef mixture in the middle. Close in half (creating the shape of a meat pie or half moon). Seal in edges with your fingers and creat small indintations with the end of a fork all around the edge of the pie.
• Before frying, test oil readiness by dropping a small piece dough into the oil. If it automatically sizzles and floats to the top, it is ready. Carefully slide in meat pies into the hot oil and cook about 3-4 minutes per side or until deep golden brown.
• Drain very well on paper towels. You can also slightly press a paper towel against the fried pies to remove excess oil. You can serve whole over a bed of shredded green cabbage or cut in half and serve Sarita's All purpose Tomato Sauce on the side.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly flour a baking sheet.
• Roll puff pastry into a thin sheet on a floured surface. Cut into squares about the length of your hand and place on the prepared baking sheet.
• Beat egg and water together in a bowl; brush each pastry square with egg wash. Stab each square a few times with a fork.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool at least 10 minutes.
• Mix guava paste and jam together in a bowl until smooth.
• Cut a large, vertical slit into each pastry. Spread 1 tablespoon guava mixture into each slit, making sure guava doesn't squeeze out when closed.