STAR ANISE BEEF EMPANADAS

Steps:

• For filling: Combine water, soy sauce, Scotch, sugar, gingerroot, cinnamon, zest, and star anise and simmer mixture 10 minutes. Add beef shanks and cook, partially covered, at a bare simmer 2 hours, or until meat is very tender. Transfer meat with a slotted spoon to cutting board. Remove gingerroot, cinnamon sticks, zest, and star anise from broth and discard. Toss carrots and kabocha squash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil and roast for about 30 minutes until tender. While roasting vegetables, discard bones and gristle and cut meat across grain into thin slices. For Dough: Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some butter lumps. Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour. Form and bake empanadas: Put oven racks in upper and lower thirds of oven and preheat oven to 400°F. Divide dough into 12 equal pieces and form each into a disk. Roll out 1 piece on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 5-inch round (1/8 inch thick). Spoon about 2 tablespoons filling onto center and fold dough in half, enclosing filling. Press edges together to seal, then crimp decoratively with your fingers or tines of a fork. Transfer empanada to a baking sheet. Lightly brush empanadas with some of egg wash and bake in upper and lower thirds of oven, switching position of sheets halfway through baking, until golden, about 25 minutes. Transfer empanadas to a rack to cool at least 5 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature.