52 Weeks of Cooking - Week 6

Today is my best friend Katie’s birthday. This girl and I have been through so much together, and she’s just the coolest, funniest, most laid back chick out there. She's the one I call when shit hits the fan. HAPPY BIRTHDAY WOMAN! LOVE YOU!

Week 6 of the cooking challenge gave us the theme Jamaican. I was really excited for this one and spent a lot of time digging around the interwebs for something new to try. After several hours of searching, I landed on the recipe for Curried Beef Patties. I was immediately intrigued.

Curry? Check.

Beef? Check.

Empanada-like? Check!

I don’t have much experience with making doughs from scratch, so I thought this would be a good way to get some under my belt. In the end, the dough was actually a snap to make. The filling is delicious, meaty and aromatic. And then you combine the two into a happy marriage of beefy-curried goodness.

Curried Beef Patties

Makes about 12

For the Dough:
2 cups of flour
¼ tsp salt
2 tbsp curry powder
¼ cup shortening
½ stick margarine/butter
⅓ cup cold water

For the Filling:
1 medium onion, diced small
1lb. lean ground beef
1 tsp curry powder
1 tsp dried thyme
¼ cup breadcrumbs
¼ cup beef stock
Salt and fresh pepper to taste

To make your dough: Sift the dry ingredients together, then cut in the shortening and margarine until the mixture is crumbly. Stir in the water until the dough starts to come together and becomes slightly stiff. Turn the dough out onto a clean surface sprinkled with flour. Roll the dough out until its about ⅛ inch thick. Cut into 8 inch circles. Cover the dough circles with a damp cloth so they don’t dry out.

To make your filling: In a large skillet over medium heat, saute your onion until it’s translucent (about 4-5 minutes) and then cook down your ground beef. Once your meat is cooked, drain off any fat. I used 85/15 meat, so draining was definitely necessary. Place the drained meat back in the skillet, and add the curry powder and thyme and stir well. Add the breadcrumbs and stock and mix well. Cover the skillet and let it simmer for about 10 minutes. When all the liquid has been absorbed, you’re ready to rock and roll. Take the skillet off the heat, and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.

To make the patties: Spoon about 3 tablespoons of the filling onto the middle of each dough circle. Moisten the edges of the dough, and fold over the meat, creating a little pocket of goodness. Pinch the edges with a fork to seal. Repeat until you’re out of dough, meat, or both. Brush the tops of the patties with an egg wash. Bake for 30-40 minutes, or until the tops of the patties are beautifully browned.

Not perfect looking, but perfect tastin'!

There's a lot of yum happening there

Serve these with a cold beer… and enjoy!

Be prepared for Monday people! I am making Katie a birthday dessert that will knock your peanut-butter loving socks off!

XOXO,
Marga