So Rio 2016 is upon us, to help celebrate I decided to try my hand at a Brazilian themed dinner. I was so pleased with my results, so tasty! Here you are, my recipes:-

Empanadas are little pockets of leftovers, I filled mine with Soffritto, Mince and Black beans filling.

Traditional Empanada dough is made a bit like an unsweetened tart crust: flour, salt (and any other seasonings), and butter are mixed to combine, then eggs and water are added until the dough comes together. However, I cheated for quickness and used shop bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry.

For the Soffritto:-

1 carrot

3 celery sticks

1 large white onion

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Chop all the ingredients into very fine pieces (cubes).
2. Heat the oil in a pan and add the onion, cook until translucent and slightly browned. Then add in the carrot and celery, reduce to a low heat and cook for approx 1 hour until its all browned. The flavour that comes from the vegetables is amazing and almost caramelised like.
3. At this stage you can eat it on its own or add any other meats or flavourings.

For my filling for the Empanada’s I added to the Soffritto mix:-

200g Browned mince

200g Black beans

2 tbsp Chopped Chilli

1 tsp salt & pepper to season

When the filling is ready, you are now ready to make your Empanadas

1. Roll out your pasty into circular shapes, I used a 4″ pastry cutter.
2. Take a dessert spoonful of the filling and put onto pastry
3. Wet you finger and wet the edges of the pastry, fold over the pastry into a half moon shape and seal with your finger or a fork.
4. Place on a greaseproof paper baking tray and brush with either milk or egg wash.
5. Bake in a preheated oven at 200 deg for 25 minutes.

Also check out my Brazilian Cheesy Bread here:- https://atomic-temporary-46532287.wpcomstaging.com/2016/08/06/brazilian-cheesy-bread/