Chicken empanadas

I have no idea how food bloggers take photos at dinner parties. Aside from the cake, I made three starters for Dad's birthday party: chicken empanadas, courgette and artichoke pizza bites and paprika potato wedges. Despite the fact that Dad loudly told our very nice guests about my new food blog, allmycravings.com (apparently), I felt so pretentious taking pictures of these simple dishes instead of actually serving them, I just gave up. Anyway, between cooking, serving and entertaining, where is there time for photos?

I'm sorry, I'll give you the recipes for the pizza bites and potato wedges another time, avec les photos. Luckily, I had a fair bit of leftover empanada filling and dough so, once I'd made the unphotographed mini-empanadas for the party, Mum suggested I make some regular empanadas for a light lunch - and boy, am I glad I did. These are scrumptious with just a side salad. What's great is that you can make a whole batch and just stick in the freezer for those rainy days.

The filling is stupidly easy to put together: just cooked chicken, your choice of cheese, spring onions, green peppers or jalapenos, garlic and a little seasoning. Since none of this really needs to be cooked, you can taste and adjust the mixture to your liking. The original recipe is from Miss Annie on food.com, which is a website I have used for years alongside others like allrecipes and Epicurious. What I love about these sites is that every recipe is reviewed and rated by other users, and you can see their comments for great alteration ideas. I really believe you can make anything so long as you have the right recipe, even if you're a complete novice. Sometimes you just need a little more reassurance that it'll work out.

I made the dough from scratch using another lovely recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. There's nothing like homemade pastry, you'll never get that fresh, crispy, flaky texture from a shop-bought pastry sheet. And yet, as I followed the recipe and painstakingly cut my butter into tiny little pieces, I admit that I did think very longingly of the frozen puff pastry package in my mum's freezer. So do what you will! There is no judgement here. If you're in America, Goya even have frozen empanada discs all cut out for you... you lucky sods.

Mum and I put the empanadas together the day before the party because they're quite happy to sit in the fridge, well-wrapped in clingfilm, for up to three days. Because we were making so many mini-empanadas, our efforts were somewhat slapdash when we folded and crimped these regular ones. But you know what, the rustic look is in and they taste amazing.

Once you've got your filling ready and your dough all rolled out and cut into 3" or 4" rounds, it's just an assembly job. A spoonful of filling in the centre, fold over, press the edges together and then crimp with a fork. Mini-empanadas are a super cute appetiser but if you don't have the time or patience (like me), just make them regular-sized. It's also completely up to you whether you bake or fry these babies, I've given both instructions down below. We tried both ways and although empanadas are meant to be fried (and are, of course, especially tasty this way), they retain their pretty shape more when baked and don't lose much flavour for it either. Just let me know which method you go for and how they turned out. Enjoy!

Chicken Empanada Filling

Adapted from Miss Annie @ Food.com. Makes about 4 cups of filling.

INGREDIENTS

• 2 1/2 cups cooked chicken*
• 1 - 1 1/2 cup monterey jack/cheddar/mozzarella cheese, grated
• 1 can green chili, chopped*
• 3 minced garlic cloves
• 6 tablespoons minced green onions
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika (optional)
• salt and pepper, to taste

METHOD

Mix together in a large bowl and refrigerate until the empanadas are ready to assemble.

Notes: I shredded the meat of a small roasted chicken for added flavour, and then pulsed the shreds in the food processor very briefly to make the pieces smaller and easier to bind.
These cans of chili are impossible to find in Dubai or the UK, so I replaced it with 1/3 cup of El Paso's sliced green jalapenos, along with a couple of tablespoons of the liquid in the jar for added flavour. If you'd prefer something milder, I'd suggest the same amount of chopped green peppers.

Empanada Dough

Recipe from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Makes enough for 35 mini and 10 regular empanadas.

INGREDIENTS

3 3/4 cups (18 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and frozen for 10 minutes
1 1/4 cups ice water
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
 

METHOD

Add the flour, sugar and salt to your food processor. Pulse a few times to combine.

Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about 16 pulses. Dump the contents of the food processor into a large bowl.

Gradually add the ice water (about 1/4 cup at a time), and use a rubber spatula to work it into the dry ingredients. Continue until the dough comes together in a rough ball. You may need more or less water; I only needed 1 cup.

Turn the dough onto your work surface and divide it in half. Shape each half into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days.

ASSEMBLY

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Working with one disk of the dough at a time, place it on a lightly floured work surface and roll into a circle about 1/8-inch thick. Use around cutter to cut out as many circles of dough as you can (I used a 3-inch cutter for mini-empanadas and a 4-inch cutter for regular ones). Transfer them to one of the prepared baking sheets. Repeat with the second disk, placing those rounds on a second baking sheet.

Place 1 rounded teaspoon or tablespoon (depending on the size of your cutter) of filling in the center of each round of dough. Dip your finger in a small bowl of water and moisten the edges of the dough. Fold the dough over into a half-moon shape so the edges meet. Press them together with your fingers to seal, then use a fork to crimp. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Continue until you’ve filled and sealed all of the empanadas.

COOKING

To bake: Preheat oven to 220°C. Brush the empanadas with the egg wash then bake for about 22 minutes (rotating the baking sheets halfway through), or until the empanadas are golden brown.

To fry: Fill a pan with enough oil so that the empanadas will be completely immersed. Over medium heat, fry in batches for about 3-4 minutes, flipping over halfway.