Empanadillas

For the pastry:
Stir the flour and salt together in a large bowl.

Beat water, egg, egg white and vinegar together in a small bowl.

Cut butter into the flour mixture. I do this with my hands until it resembles crumbs. Make a well in the center of the flour and add wet ingredients. Stir until it forms a smooth dough. Wrap dough in a sheet of plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour or up to overnight. (It can also be frozen.)

For the filling:
Remove the stem and seeds from the pepper and peel the onion and garlic. Finely chop all of them.

Heat a drizzle of oil in a large saute pan over medium heat. Sauté onion and bell pepper until translucent then add garlic and cook for 5 minutes longer or until golden. Add tomatoes and roast beef (and bay leaf if using). Let it simmer until most all of the liquid has evaporated, shredding the roast beef and breaking up the whole tomatoes as you stir. When most of the liquid is gone, remove from heat and let it cool.

Remove dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it and cut into 10 equal balls. On a lightly floured surface using a rolling pin, roll each ball into a 6” circle.

Remove the bay leaf. Put about a 1/2 cup of filling in the center of each circle, fold, and seal edges with a fork (pastry should be full but filling should not spill out). I usually divide the filling into 10 sections and fill each pastry as much as I can.

Heat oil in a deep pot or your deep fryer, and make sure oil is deep enough that you cover the pies. Fry in medium hot oil until golden brown. Enjoy!

Dough recipe adapted from Daisy Cooks! Cookbook.