Robin Miller’s Green Chile Beef Empanadas

I made Robin Miller’s Beef Roast with Root Vegetables for dinner the other night and it turned out really well. I had never used parsnips or celeriac before and was pleasantly surprised at how good they were!

I knew we’d have leftovers with the roast so I also planned for her leftover use-up to make beef empanadas the next night. I’ve always liked Robin’s “shtick” – making one main meal one night and then planning ahead and using the leftovers throughout the rest of the week for quicker meals.

Sadly, the leftovers recipe wasn’t nearly as good as the roast itself was:

The first thing I’d change is using a store-bought pie crust. I’ve never used pre-made before and it was nasty – I can’t imagine using it with a pie.

I know using the store-bought was supposed to make the meal faster to prepare but you know, making pie crust just doesn’t take that long in the first place and it would have tasted tons better than this. Even fully cooked this crust still tasted doughy and bland. So if I make this again I’m making my own crust.

I’d also add some of the roast liquid to the empanadas themselves – even with the cheese and green chiles they ended up being pretty dry. (I know the picture isn’t very appetizing, but there you go).

I should have used an egg wash on these but I wanted to follow the recipe as it was. If I make them again I’ll do an egg wash and maybe sprinkle some Parmesan on top.

So overall, I can see what she was going for and with a few tweaks I think these would be pretty good, but as they were, not so much.