Empanadas

I made empanadas the other day for our knitting group. I have to say, they were pretty tasty indeed.

I made two different types - one with spicy Mexican caramelised onions, the other (and by far the best) mushroom, ham, cheese and coriander. They went down a treat. Here's how I made them:

For the pastry:
This is a simple recipe for empanada dough - you can get more complicate ones, but its quick and easy and has great results!

300 grams plain flour (plus extra for dusting)
25 grams butter
3 tablespoons peanut oil
1 egg
250 mls water

Heat the water, butter and oil with a pinch of salt in a saucepan - do not bring to boil but gentle melt the butter. Once warm remove from heat and sift in the flour and stir well. Add the egg and combine the mixture together in the pan (this takes a lot of good hard stirring). Once mixed together, turn it out onto a well floured surface and kneed well. Cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rest for at least 30 mins. Once this is done - roll out the pastry so its about 3mm or so think. Cut into circles to your desired size (I made little bit sized ones)


For the Mushroom Filing: makes about 20 small cocktail-sized empanadas.
5 or 6 field or large portobello mushrooms
4 slices of cooked ham (you can use Serrano ham for authentic Spanishness, but it has a much stronger flavour so you won't need as much)
a handful or two of grated cheese
half a cup of chopped coriander
Juice of one lime

In a food processor, mix the mushrooms, lime and ham to a medium paste. Mix in the cheese and coriander by hand, add a pinch of salt and pepper and combine well.

For the Spicy Onion Filling: makes about 10 small cocktail-sized empanadas.
One Spanish (red) onion, sliced
1 tsp Epazote (a Mexican herb)
a good pinch of Cayenne pepper
juice of 1 lime
olive oil
pinch of sugar

Heat a small amount of olive oil in a pan, add the rest of the ingredients and simmer gently - the aim here is to caramelise the onions - not brown them. They must be soft and juicy, take care not to burn. It can take 20-30 mins to get the initial effects.

To make up the empanadas:
Once you have rolled out the pastry and cut out the desired circle size, put a small amount of the mixture on the middle of the round. Fold the pastry in half and pinch together with your fingers, and also use a folk to make sure that there are no holes and it is joined together properly.

Heat a wok or large pan with oil (I used peanut oil, but any kind of vegetable oil will do) and once the oil is hot enough (throw in a small piece of stale bread and it should sizzle and brown in about 30 sec - then its hot enough) add the empanadas in batches, and cook for 3-4 mins (depending on size) or until they are golden brown all over. Remove and rest on some kitchen towel, sprinkle with sea salt.

Then eat them - warm is best!