sometimes you just need a project … Empanadas

For me, stress baking and detailed projects go hand in hand.  I’m a project person.  Every so often I need something time consuming and involved to focus on.   Brings me back to center.  Croissants, filled dumplings, handmade ravioli, sourdough bread and the like.  I also have this annoying habit of over doing things.  Have a party coming up?  Oh, I‘ll certainly offer to bring something and will then show up with some multi-tiered concoction made of 18 different components in two versions, which everyone will enjoy while I have one beer then fall asleep on your couch.

OK, it’s not quite that bad but there is a grain of truth in that I rarely make just one thing.  Maybe it’s my short attention span but I like variety.  Options.  When I throw dinner parties, it’s not uncommon to have several desserts plus a few little treats – or mignardise – with after dinner drinks or digestifs.  That I even have “digestifs” at home is absurd but I do and they just taste better with little tidbits.

Some friends were recently in town for a visit and a bunch of us got together to gab and look at pictures of their new, albeit temporary, home in India.  I, of course, offered up dessert.  Chocolate was a given but I wanted something fruity too (variety people!)  Peach turnovers were just the thing – in season, transport well, simple to serve and eat.  I’ll post more on these later because what then happened was I started thinking about savory turnovers.  Empanadas.

I adore filled dough things of all kinds – won tons, egg rolls, pierogies, calzones, samosas.  Every culture seems to have one and right now I’m fixated on the South American variety – empanadas.  But what kind ?  I had just returned from another mushroom foraging trip for more chanterelles so a wild mushroom filling, combining those orange beauties with some white and yellow oyster mushrooms, would be perfect.  Sautéed with garlic, fresh thyme and a bit of white wine, I had a tasty mixture.  A little goat cheese gave it an extra oomph and made it even better.

So what else?  This is a meat crowd and one of my friends despises mushrooms (yeah, I don’t get that either but it was his party.)  I had some ground lamb in the freezer from my meat CSA and swiss chard from the farmers market.  Ummm …. a good idea was brewing.  Sautéed onion and cubanelle pepper, garlic, that lamb, some diced potato, chopped swiss chard.  A little cinnamon and cumin;  deglaze the pan with white wine … oh my.  Delicious.  I couldn’t stop snacking on the mixture.  If you don’t have a cubanelle (or banana pepper) don’t fret.  I just happened to have one in the crisper but you can use a green or red pepper.  Or skip it entirely.   When I baked these, I sprinkled a little smoked paprika on top – more so for identification than for flavor – and it worked pretty well.  Of course, I tried a few for lunch and they were rather tasty dunked in a little chimichurri.

I’ve used a bunch of different doughs for empanadas over the years:  pie dough, traditional recipes with masa harina, others with cream cheese.  Since I was baking this time – rather than frying – and wanted a flaky dough, I went with a standard butter pie crust.  It’s easy to whip up in the food processor and has a little vinegar which helps tenderize the dough.  I picked this recipe up in a cooking class a zillion years ago and use it regularly.  It handles beautifully and makes a tasty flaky crust.  Just make sure you chill it for at least an hour to firm up that butter and keep the work surface well floured while rolling to prevent any sticking.

The filling is the ultimate recipe to tweak.  You can vary it based on what you like or have on hand.  It’s great for leftovers – dice leftover chicken or a piece of roast, add some seasoning/spices, a few chopped vegetables, maybe a little cheese – and you’ve got a great empanada.  One key thing – keep the filling dry.  Saucy fillings are hard to contain in the dough and tend to burst out while baking.  Not so pretty.

Also important – the filling needs to be cold or at least room temperature before assembling so plan ahead.  If you try to fill the pastry circles with a warm filling; misery will certainly follow.  The dough will become too warm to handle easily and you’ll have ugly misshapen empanadas.  I’m just warning you.

Now here’s the very best part … these can be made ahead, frozen and baked as needed.  What a great thing to have on hand!  Unexpected guests?  No problem.  Pull a few from the freezer and you’ve got a tasty treat in about 20 minutes.  To freeze, the best bet is to lay the filled empanadas on a parchment or plastic lined sheet pan, without touching, and freeze solid.  Once frozen, transfer to a heavy duty Ziploc bag.  Frozen empanadas will keep up to 2 months – bake directly from the freezer, adding a few minutes to the baking time.  I find it helpful to write the baking time/temp right on the bag with a Sharpie marker. Who wants to boot up the computer to look up that info when you’ve got a sheet pan in your hands?  Really puts a cramp in the convenience factor, wouldn’t you say?

This is a project in the very best sense of the word.  Very rewarding and a tad time consuming – everything needs to chill for a while before assembly – and filling the empanadas takes a little focus.  But sometimes you need that.  I find it rather relaxing and set up sort of an assembly line, filling and crimping a bunch at at time.  I realize that making two or three kinds isn’t for everyone but once you have everything ready and get going, it moves pretty quickly so why not?  You can also spread this out over a few days – make the dough/filling one night, roll and fill the next.  How about inviting a few friends over for an empanada making/eating party and bitch session?

Stress Baking Therapy Factor:  HIGH. It’s a very project-y recipe with a high reward factor so take this on when you have time and need to focus on something.  Or distract yourself from something else.

Savory Empanadas:
Makes about 20

1 filling recipe – Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese OR Lamb, Swiss Chard & Potato  (see below)
1 recipe empanada dough (see below)
egg wash – 1 large egg mixed with 1 Tablespoon water

1. Preheat oven to eat oven to 400°F and have two sheet pans ready (I line mine with parchment paper for easy clean up)
2. Take one piece of dough and on a lightly floured surface, roll about 1/16” thick.   Make sure to flour the top and bottom of the dough to avoid any sticking – rotate the dough frequently.
3. Using a round biscuit cutter – mine is 4 ¼” – cut out circles.  With this size cutter, you should get about 6-8 circles out of each piece of dough on the first roll.  Reserve the scraps.
4. Brush half of each pastry circle with the egg wash.
5. Place a heaping Tablespoon of the filling mixture on one half of each circle, leaving a ½” border.
6. Fold the dough over to form half moons and press lightly around the filling to seal.
7. With a fork, press down along the dough edge to crimp and seal.  Continue with the remaining circles.
8. Do the same thing with the second piece of dough then gather the scraps from both batches and lightly press/knead together.
9. Roll this out and continue with the same cutting/filling/crimping process but re-roll the scraps only once or the dough will become too tough.
10. You can bake at this point or the empanadas may be frozen, unbaked, for longer storage.
11. To bake: Arrange empanadas on a sheet pan(s) and brush the tops with egg wash.
12. Bake 15 minutes until lightly browned.  (if using frozen empanadas, bake directly from the freezer, adding about 5 minutes to the baking time.)

Empanada Dough
2 ¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into ½” cubes (1 stick/4 ounces)
1 large egg
1/3 cup ice water
1 Tablespoon white vinegar

1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour and salt a few times until combined.
2. Add the butter and pulse a few additional times, just a few seconds, until the mixture resembles cornmeal with a few pea-sized chunks of butter.
3. In a small bowl, combine the ice water, egg and vinegar.
4. Add this liquid to the dry ingredients in the work bowl and process until just combined.  Take care not to over-process – this will take less than a minute.
5. Turn dough out onto a clean work surface and give it a few gentle kneads to combine all the dry bits and the dough just comes together.
6. Divide the dough in half, pat each into a flat round and wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
7. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.  Can be made ahead and kept in the fridge for 2 days or frozen, tightly wrapped, for 2 months.  Defrost in the fridge overnight.

Wild Mushroom & Goat Cheese Empanada Filling
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, diced (roughly 1 cup)
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
8 ounces wild mushrooms, sliced (I used a combination of chanterelles and oyster)
1 teaspoon fresh thyme, leaves only (or ½ teaspoon dried)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup white wine (or stock or even water – I used pinot grigio)
4 ounces fresh goat cheese, crumbled

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
2. Sauté the onions until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and the butter and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
4. Add the sliced mushrooms, thyme, pepper, salt and wine.  Stir to combine.
5. Reduce heat to medium, cover and allow the mixture to cook down a bit – about 3-4 minutes.
6. Uncover and continue to cook liquid down until reduced and somewhat dry.
7. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
8. Let mixture cool completely; add the crumbled goat cheese and stir gently to combine.
9. Filling mixture must be completely cool before continuing with assembly.

Lamb, Chard & Potato Empanada Filling
2 medium waxy potatoes (about 6 ounces)
1 medium onion, diced (roughly 1 cup)
1 medium cubanelle or banana pepper, seeded and finely diced
2 Tablespoons olive oil
3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 ounces ground lamb
2 cups chopped swiss chard, stems and leaves (about ½ bunch or 5 ounces)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup white wine (or stock or even water – I used pinot grigio)

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil for the potatoes.
2. Peel/quarter the potatoes and cook until tender – about 10 minutes or so.
3. Cool the potato completely, then dice into smaller pieces about ¼”.  Set aside.
4. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium high heat.
5. Sauté the onions and diced cubanelle pepper until translucent, about 4-5 minutes.
6. Add the garlic and sauté for 1 minute until fragrant.
7. Add the ground lamb, breaking up the large bits, and sauté until cooked through.
8. Add the salt, black pepper, cumin, cinnamon and wine.  Stir to combine.
9. Add the chopped swiss chard, give it a stir then cover.
10. Reduce heat to medium and allow the mixture to cook until chard is just cooked through, about 5 minutes.
11. Uncover and continue to cook until liquid is reduced and somewhat dry.
12. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.
13. Gently fold in the diced potato.
14. Let mixture cool completely before continuing with assembly.