Beef Pate By Crucian Contessa

Beef Pate
Pates (pronounced Pah Tays) were my fast food growing up. After Hurricane Hugo blew away our high school cafeteria, lunch time was trimmed down and simplified. Some days it was just a Pate either beef or saltfish and an “Island Dairies” juice box either passion fruit, Iced Tea, or guava—Total Cost $2.00!! What I remember about those pates were the crispy crunchy dough with the raised welts and blisters fried into place where the hot oil met and melt the fat in the dough in a puff of steam. Sigh… it was food heaven! I have longed to find the perfect Pate ever since. I usually ran into pates that were too greasy, or too doughy, or too much butter/shortening. None were able to capture the balance of textures for me of those high school pates.

I am almost convinced that every culture has its version of meat encased in some form of delicious pastry, the Spanish Empanadas, The Jamaican Beef Patties, The French Pasties, The Italian Calzone, Even the British with their Meat Pies! We all understand that something special happens when dough and meat come together!

A thousand tries and a bag of flour later, I’ve bumped into the kind of pate that I couldn’t stop making. The kind of pate I craved for lunch AND dinner (on the same day). The kind of pate I was dangerously testing and retesting to make sure that I sacrificed and brought you, the reader, the very BEST in pate pastry of course! Yes, I did it for the blog!!! I am STICKING with that story to justify the unholy amount of pates I “tasted” in arriving at this final version! Spiced and flavorful beef wrapped in a crimped tender, flaky, pastry.

The kind of beef you use can have a serious effect on this dish. I used local Senepole ground beef I bought at one of my favorite local meat shops, Annaly Farms. Senepole is a very lean meat with strong beefy flavors. In fact, the Senepole Cow was bred specifically for this island to tolerate our warm weather. They feast on grass in Crucian pastures and the flavor of the beef is just beautiful. The only downside of Senepole is that it is incredibly tough. But the grinding process makes it perfect for pates! I don’t expect you to bump into Senepole beef in your local grocery store, but any good quality lean beef would work well here. If you can’t find a lean cut of beef, you can simply drain some of the fat from the cooked filling.

Also, this isn't a recipe you can fiddle with in terms of the dough. The recipe calls for shortening. I used an organic, vegetable, non-hydrogenated shortening. But any good shortening will do! Please don’t use butter! Pleaaaaaase don’t use margerine! Please don’t use a butter substitute or anything that isn't Shortening! Your taste buds will thank you!

I hope you are having a wonderful Crucian Day wherever you are in the world! Make some pates and ENJOY!!

- See more at: http://www.cruciancontessa.com/2015/01/16/beef-pate/#sthash.dHkexj0X.dpuf

Ingredients

Filling Ingredients:
1 Pound Lean Ground Beef
1 Yellow Onion Diced
5 Cloves of Garlic
1/2 Green Bell Pepper
1/2 Red Bell Pepper
2-3 Seasoning Peppers
2 Stalks Culantro or 2 Tablespoons of Cilantro
1 Teaspooon Thyme
2-3 Tablespoons of Tomato Paste
Optional: Hot Peppers to your taste
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Dough Ingredients:
2 Cups All Purpose Flour
1 Teaspoon Salt
2 Teaspoon Sugar
1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
1/4 Cup Cold Shortening
1/2 Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons Cold Water
Oil for Frying
1 Egg and about a tablespoon of water for sealing the Pate

Directions

Filling:
In a skillet, heat just enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan.

Once oil is sufficiently hot add Diced Onion, Green Bell Peppers, Red Bell Peppers, Seasoning Peppers, Garlic, and Thyme cook until onions and green peppers are completely softened and translucent.

Then add Ground Beef and cook until done.

Sprinkle cilantro over the mixture and add the tomato paste.

Feel free to add a little water if necessary to keep the mixture from sticking. But the goal is to keep the “sauce/water/oil” content to a minimum so that it doesn’t make the pastry soggy or greasy after frying.

Add Salt and Pepper to taste or even some “hot” peppers to your taste, if you enjoy a more spicy filling like I do.

Dough:
Measure/Weigh out the two cups of flour Flour can become compacted during processing. So, if you want a more accurate measurement of the flour you are using, aerate the flour by dipping your measuring spoon into the bag and letting it fall back into the bag. Do this a couple times, and then scoop out the measured amount, then use the back of a knife to sweep off any excess. This will help make sure you don’t have too much flour in your dough which can change the texture of the final outcome.

In a food processor, place the dry ingredients–Flour, Salt, Sugar, and Baking Powder.
Run the machine for a few seconds to mix all the ingredients together evenly.
Add the cold shortening and pulse about ten times to break the fat evenly into the flour mixture.

Finally. stream the cold water into the mixture as the machine is running. It should start to pull away from the sides and form a ball. The dough may seem slightly crumbly but it will all come together during kneading.

Knead the dough for about a minute to bring it all together.

Form a flat disc, and let it rest for about an hour.

TIP: I used parchment paper to knead the dough into the disc shape. This kept me from having to add flour which would change the texture of the dough.

Once the meat Meat Mixture is completely cool. Roll out the dough as thin as possible. I tried to quantify how thin it should be but my ruler wouldn't let me, I would say it was about 1/16th of an inch.

Tip: If you don’t have a French Rolling Pin, it might be nice to snag one. I love the control I get from using this type of rolling pin rather than the traditional one.

After rolling out the dough, use a small bowl about 5 inches and a pastry cutter to make the circles.


Pate 10
Add the meat mixture to the center of the pate, leave sufficient room to close the pate with at least an inch border for sealing.

In a separate bowl beat together the egg and water and with the tip of your finger trace half of the circle.

Fold the other half of the dough over the meat mixture and press to seal with a fork.

Place enough oil in your fryer for the pates to deep fry. Let the oil get very hot. Lowering or raising the temperature of the fryer as you see fit throughout the frying process.

Very gently, without splashing the oil drop one or two pates (depending on the size of your fryer) into the oil and let fry until puffy and golden brown.

More Info

Servings / Yield: Unspecified
Prep Time: Unspecified   /   Total Time: Unspecified
Category: Baked Goods
Keywords: Empanada