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Bison Empanadas

This recipe makes 12 empanadas which can serve 6 people well. There might be a little filling left over, which is fine because it's better to have too much filling rather than too little.
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Total Time 55 minutes
Servings 6
Author Sonja Bradfield

Ingredients

For the pastry:

  • 2 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 stick of very cold unsalted butter (1/2 cup), diced into 1/2 inch cubes
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup of ice water
  • 1 tablespoon of vinegar apple cider or white

Filling:

  • 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup of diced onion
  • 3/4 pound of ground bison
  • 2 boiled eggs chopped
  • 10 green olives I used castelvetrano olive, they're the large, light green ones, chopped
  • 1/2 teaspoon of dried oregano
  • 1/2 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper
  • 1 egg whisked to brush the empanadas for baking

Instructions

  1. Pulse the flour, salt and baking powder in a food processor (or sift into a bowl).
  2. Add the butter and pulse until the butter and flour are the texture of coarsely ground cornmeal (or use a pastry cutter or your fingers to cut the butter into the flour).
  3. Whisk together the water, egg and vinegar. With the processor running, slowly stream in the wet mixture until the dough comes together.
  4. Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and knead a few times just until the dough comes together. Flatten into a round disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Put it in the fridge to rest while you make the filling.
  5. Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium heat and sauté the bison meat with the oregano until just cooked through (the meat is very lean, so be careful to not overcook it). Set aside in a bowl.
  6. Sauté the onion for five minutes and add to the meat. Add the chopped boiled eggs, olives, salt and pepper.
  7. Heat the oven to 400 degrees. Meanwhile, assemble the empanadas.
  8. Take out the dough and cut into 12 even pieces.
  9. Take each piece and roll out to a 5-6 inch circle, about 1/8 inch thick.
  10. Fill with 2 and a half tablespoons of filling and fold in half, sealing by using the tines of a fork to crimp the edges.
  11. Put on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or spray with cooking spray).
  12. Whisk one egg and brush on the empanadas.
  13. Bake for 25 minutes in the oven until golden brown.