Recipe Tue Apr 22 2008

Empanada Dreams: Baking with a Friend

By Chris Brunn

A friend woke up thinking of empanadas this weekend. Luckily for me, we were meeting in my kitchen later. We turned out three versions. Garlic and sautéed-tender kale reminded me of spinach rolls at the Middle Eastern Bakery. We added enough brown sugar to a pumpkin and chickpea filling to make it nearly approach a dessert. Finally, the heat of a spicy soy chorizo-potato filling mellowed in the oven, but left us enough of the deep, heavily seasoned fake pork sausage flavor. Pre-cooked brown rice would stand in quite well for the potatoes, too. Not quite sure how to make the appropriate dough, we searched, and ended up modifying a recipe from about.com, replacing the eggs with tapioca flour to keep vegan. We tried rolling the dough to various thicknesses, but it was best paper-thin, which baked up the crispiest.

Dough
3 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup plus cold water
2 tablespoons tapioca flour
1 teaspoon vinegar
3 tablespoons non-dairy butter (ex: Earth Balance)

Mix vinegar, tapioca and 2 tablespoons of water. In another bowl, whisk flour and salt, then cut in non-dairy butter with a fork or pastry blender. Make a well, and add the vinegar mixture into it, mix, and then add the 1/2 cup cold water. Knead until all the dry flour comes together into a slightly tacky ball. After thoroughly combining, if any of the dough feels dry, add just enough water to moisten. Chill for at least an hour, covered.

Three Fillings
Round One – garlic and kale: use one head of garlic – assuming you're as big a fan of it as I am – scraped into a paste with the edge of a chef's knife and a few good shakes of salt for grit. Sauté minced garlic in olive oil – enough to coat the surface of a pan – until tender and soft, and then add two bunches of chopped kale, tough stems removed.

Number two – chickpeas and pumpkin: in another pan, dissolve powdered spices in olive oil. Dashes of powdered nutmeg, cardamom, and maybe 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon work well. Mix in about 1/4 can pumpkin – enough to bind the chickpeas together in a mash, then smash so you can still recognize some of the chickpeas, and mix in brown sugar and salt.

Final round – potato and soy chorizo: bring a pot of water with diced potato to boil, cook until barely tender, and then drain. Meanwhile, sauté minced ginger and garlic until tender in olive oil, add soy chorizo and potatoes, and cook until the potatoes are slightly golden.

Roll, Fill, Fold, Pinch, and Bake

Preheat your oven to 350 F. Roll out the dough paper-thin. Cut pieces large enough to fold over the filling, fill, fold over, pinch the edges, and brush with olive oil. If you're not into surprises, change the way you fold or pinch to identify the different fillings. Bake until the empanadas have nicely tanned, just a bit golden.

Next Time

Dreaming for next time. My friend suggested a plum filling, with a port reduction, vanilla and brown sugar - and maybe a little citrus, perhaps orange. She also sold me on raisins softened in rum, soaked until plump. I think figs could be an option, too, with white wine reduced with vanilla and brown sugar.