#ViernesdeSabor: Food City Ranchito Kitchen Takeover

By Editor August 5, 2016 09:50

By: Isabel Byfield

AZLatinos.com took over Food City’s cocina to highlight what’s new in their ranchito style kitchens. We asked head chef Willy to cook some Latin empanadas with us. We provided a basic recipe and he added his own creative panache and some personal touches to create a dish that will make lick your fingers (or in this case, your phone or computer screen).

Empanadas are well known all over Latin America and their popularity stems from the fact that they allow for every possible combination of ingredients. If beans and cheese or potato and beef sound like a good combo, you can make an empanada with them – only your imagination is the limit. They’re filling, comforting, and an easy on-the-go food you can make in advance and freeze so you’ll always have a complete meal whenever you need it.

Beef and Potato Empanada Recipe:

Yields 10-12 empanadas depending on size.

Ingredients:

For the empanada dough:

1½ cups of yellow corn meal
2 cups of water
Pinch of salt to taste
Pinch of pepper

Raw empanada (Photo Credit: Isabel Byfield/AZLatinos.com)

For the empanada filling:

1/2 lb of ground beef
2 medium red skin potatoes, cooked and peeled and mashed
1 tsp of salt
1/2 tsp of pepper
1 cube of chicken bouillon
1/4 cup chopped onion
Cilantro to taste.
2 tbsp of frying oil
1 garlic clove

And of course, don’t forget your favorite frying oil.

Directions:

Mix the cornmeal, water, salt and pepper and stir well until you get a firm dough consistency. Set aside.
In a pan, add the oil, onion, garlic and beef. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Dilute the chicken bouillon in 2 tbs of water and add to the beef. Add the mashed potatoes and cilantro until well combined.
Form 3-inch balls with the dough and place them in between plastic wrap, extend and form a circle. Add the empanada filling in one side of the circle and close with the empty side of the circle until you get the empanada shape (half moon).
Deep fry in the hot oil for about 3 minutes until golden brown. Remove from the heat and serve with hot sauce, aji, or any other sauce you prefer

The result?

Of course we had to taste our empanadas. The result? Well, chef Willy definitely took them to next level by adding some crema, guacamole, pico, rice and beans to go with them. We also got to sample all the agua fresca flavors that Food City features; and if you go to their Instagram account and enter the agua fresca contest, you could win a month’s supply!

Empanada Platter (Photo Credit: Isabel Byfield/AZLatinos.com)

Beef Potato Empanada at Food City (Photo Credit: Isabel Byfield/AZLatinos.com)

Definitely come to Food City’s cocina and try out all their dish creations. They’re introducing new items (like the Sonoran Hotdogs) to please those Latino palates (because they know what we like).