One thing I learned very early on in our relationship is that Josh's food tastes and mine are seriously different. He's has a Tex Mex, Cajun, "I grew up in Colorado" palate, and I have a "it better not be spicy even though I grew up in Singapore" Asian flavor loving palate. Thankfully we have been able to agree on a lot of dishes and on the ones that are a bit to bland for him, Siracha always comes in handy. But because I love him and he was having a long day at work, I decided to go out on a limb and make empanadas. But instead of fully giving in to his weird taste ways, I made the stuffing more Asian then Latin and our food compromised for us :)
I baked them to make them healthier and found a great recipe at laylita.com. With the help of my handy new food processor the dough came together super easy:
I baked them to make them healthier and found a great recipe at laylita.com. With the help of my handy new food processor the dough came together super easy:
In the food processor mix:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
then:
then:
Add 6oz unsalted butter (1.5 sticks, chilled and cut into 12 pieces)
Add 1 egg and 4-5 tbsp of water
and mix until a clumpy dough forms.
Form a ball, flatten it a bit and chill it in the fridge for 30 minutes. (I wrapped mine in saran wrap)
Then I made the filling adapted from these lettuce wraps from Eat Yourself Skinny, which we have made before (with chicken not turkey like it calls for).
Then I baked 1 lb of chicken breast seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper, and adobo seasoning. Once it had cooked and cooled off a bit I chopped it up into fine pieces in the food processor and put it back in the pan. I added 1 clove of garlic, a dash of ginger, and a huge handful of chopped scallions to the pan along with 3 tbsp hoisin sauce, 1 tbsp rice vinegar, and 2 tbsp soy sauce along with some salt and pepper. I would have added water chestnuts for some crunch but the husband is not a fan.
Once the filling was done I pulled out the dough and used a rolling pin on a floured chopping block to roll it out into a thin sheet. I pressed one of our salad bowls upside down into the dough to get six decent sized circles. I rolled each circle out a big more and added a spoonful or two of the filling, folded the disc in half and pressed the edges together. I then used my fork to make little marks along the edges.
After refrigerating the stuffed empanadas for 30 minutes (enough time to heat up the oven also!) I brushed them with an egg wash (a whisked egg with a dash or two of water) and popped them in the oven at 375 for 20 minutes. After checking them I put them in for 5 minutes more watching carefully to make sure they didn't burn but turned nice and golden.
I would probably make them a bit smaller next time to make more. These were a hit for dinner and Josh brought one with him on a bed of lettuce with some veggies for lunch the next day!
