More Fast Food - Empenadas, Ole! And a Salad, too!

Sunday, I had the "pleasure" of cleaning the fridge inside & out. I had leftover shredded pork, cotija cheese, a bell pepper that had to be cooked (or tossed). I keep a box of prepared pie crusts, from Trader Joe's, on hand as my "emergency quick fix" ingredient. So, I decided to make empenadas.

Empenadas are my Mexican version of quiches or fritatas. It's a great way to recycle leftovers in a tasty way.

I can't really give a specific recipe, with measurements. These empenadas are more of a technique:

With a little olive oil, I sliced onion and the yellow bell pepper (cut into strips) and cooked until tender. Set aside to cool slightly.

Place one prepared pie crust onto parchment paper (they come in pairs)-- or you can make your own. Cut each circle in half.

I piled shredded pork, cotija cheese, onion and bell pepper. I added fresh cilantro.


Then, I folded into half again, and fluted the edges with a fork-- this took minutes.

I cut a few slits for steam to escape. I did this on Sunday, covered the baking sheet with plastic wrap until today....when I came home tired and thankful I did not have to cook.

I preheated the over to 350F. I beat one egg and brushed the egg wash onto each empenada.
I baked the empenadas (I had four of them) .


Aren't they pretty?

These were delicious and the crust was tender and flakey. See?