Pastelitos - Sephardic Meat Pastries

👨‍🍳 Method

For the Wrapping Dough

1. 1
   Thaw the puff pastry in the fridge overnight, until pliable but still cold.

   Refrigerator

   💡Work with store-bought dough while it's cold: warm puff pastry gets sticky and won't puff in the oven, and phyllo sheets dry out fast, so keep the waiting sheets covered with a damp towel.

For the Pastry Filling

1. 2
   Heat the olive oil in a wide pan over medium heat.

   ⚙ Pan-fryingStoveFrying pan
2. 3
   Add the onion and fry 5–8 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent and starts to turn golden at the edges. If it browns too fast, lower the heat.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove

   💡Add by cooking time: what needs long (onion, carrot, meat) goes in first, and what burns fast (garlic, dry spices) goes in last, only until fragrant.
3. 4
   Raise the heat to medium-high and add the meat. Press it flat over the bottom and leave it for 2–3 minutes without stirring, until a brown crust forms.

   Stove

   💡Brown ground beef in the pot without pressing it: leave it as one 'cake' for a few minutes until a brown crust forms, then break it into chunks. Deep browning = deep flavor.
4. 5
   Break it up with a wooden spoon and fry for 5–7 more minutes, stirring, until no pink is left and the meat browns.

   StoveWooden spoon
5. 6
   Add the cumin, paprika, cinnamon, salt and black pepper and fry another 1–2 minutes, until fragrant.

   ⚙ Adding to the hot fat and fryingStove
6. 7
   Remove from the heat and cool the filling completely, about half an hour.

   💡Fill dough only with completely cooled filling: a hot filling softens the dough, makes it hard to seal and makes the pastry soggy inside.

To assemble

1. 8
   Roll out the dough on a work surface and cut into into squares of about 10 cm.

   Knife
2. 9
   Place a spoonful of cooled filling in the center of each piece, fold in half and seal the edges well with a fork.

   💡Seal well and press with a fork all along the edges, and don't overfill: a pastry that opens in the oven loses its filling, and in the fryer it fills with oil.
3. 10
   Arrange on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, brush with beaten egg.

   Baking panParchment paper

   💡Brush with an egg beaten with a teaspoon of water: the glaze turns shiny and golden.
4. 11
   Bake in an oven preheated to 200°C (390°F) 25 minutes, until the pastries are puffed and golden underneath too.

   ⚙ BakingOvenBaking pan

   💡Check by the cue (until…), not just the clock: every oven bakes a little differently.