A miracle occurred. I can’t explain what happened except to use the “M” word.

I have often said that I misplaced my copy of Empanadas, a slim book from 1984 that was my introduction to empanadas and had the most heavenly dough.

The other day, without intent, I walked out of the kitchen and went right up to our front room bookshelf, the one with over 2000 cookbooks. I just put my hand out and grabbed a book. Just did it. And there, there was my old copy of Empanadas. I hadn’t seen it in over 10 years.

I raced back to the kitchen and made a batch on the spot. For the filling, I love to improvise so I created my own mixture using what was in my fridge and on my shelves. My recipe calls for onions cooked to the point of caramelization. Even better, use the sweet and sour onions I posted yesterday:

https://cookingbythebook.com//recipes/cipollini-in-sweet-and-sour-sauce/

In all modesty, my filling was great. How do I know? I offered a half to Suzen who is not a savory empanada fan. Her reaction? “Give me another,” she said after the last swallow. I felt proud and accomplished.

Now, I don’t want to suggest a letdown, but I must say that after 30 years my memories of the Empanadas’ dough recipe were fuzzy. I had thought it was a great dough, made with equal parts of butter and cream cheese. The recipe is below. I found the dough to be pleasantly soft and tasty, but I had to add extra water to get the dough to come together, certainly too much water, and I ended up with a mix that was sticky and a bit of a task to work with. You’ve had dough issues, too? This is why people shy away from pastry making.

But you don’t have to be shy. I would try the Empanadas dough again, but I don’t have to. There is a better dough, made with twice as much butter as cream cheese, from Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn. It’s the best dough I’ve ever worked with. It’s a contemporary book, so the instructions suggest making the dough quickly and easily in the food processor, something I did not have in 1984. That recipe is below, too. You can use the recipe but you really should buy Mad Hungry for all its insights and modern recipes.

I think Lucinda’s version is a great empanada dough, and Suzen has used it multiple times for desserts. My filling here is savory. Try this dough with apples sautéed in sugar and cinnamon! When Suzen does a corporate cooking event, it’s important that dessert polish off the event with some spectacle. This dough, with the apples, is like giving everyone their own private apple pie. You see delight on every face.

Out of curiosity, I did look at my recipe collection for empanadas and empanada doughs. The ideas are literally all over the place. Ina Garten suggests, for easy use, to simply use puff pastry. The great Penelope Casa goes with lard and eggs. You’ll see butter alone, olive oil alone, that lard alone, with water, with vinegar, with egg yolks, with whole eggs, with flour alone, with flour + cornmeal, with flour + masa harina. There is a plethora of ways to make a crust, and I will surely try some of these, but I am every so happy to have Lucinda’s.

And to have found my old copy of Empanadas. You can still buy the book and I think you would find fun. Sticky perhaps but fun.

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Brian’s Ham and Green Chili Empanada Filling

Yield: a dozen or so depending on the size of your cutter

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of deli baked ham, cut into thick slices [around ¼ inch thick]
• 2 4-ounce cans of Hatch green chilies
• ½ cup sour cream
• 2 small onions, sautéed to the point of caramelization
• Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

Cut the ham into small ¼-inch chunks. Place into a bowl. Add the chilies, sour cream, and onion. Stir to mix, then season with salt and pepper.

Refrigerate while making the dough.

When the dough is rolled out, cut out disks for the size you desire. Typically, you want 3-inch rounds. Smaller or larger is fine, but 3-inch disks seem to be easy to work with. Spoon a tablespoon or so of filling in the center of each disk, then fold over and seal with a fork. Glaze with an egg wash if you wish to achieve a more golden crust.

While you can fry empanadas, I suggest baking at 400° for 15 to 20 minutes.  

Source: Brian O’Rourke

Photo Information [top picture]: Canon T2i, EFS 60 mm Macro Lens, F/3.5 for 1/60th second at ISO‑800

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Quick and Easy Pastry from Empanadas by George and Sherry LaFollette Zabriskie

Yield: 20 3-inch empanadas

Ingredients:

• ¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter or margarine (at room temperature)
• ¼ pound (4 ounces) cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1 ½ cups unbleached flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon coriander (optional)
• ¼ teaspoon cider vinegar
• 2 tablespoons very cold water or milk
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1 large egg beaten with 2 tablespoons of water for glaze

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 400°.

Using a fork, combine the butter or margarine and cream cheese.

Sift the flour over this mixture. Add the baking powder, coriander if desired, vinegar, and water or milk and combine with fork.

With generously floured hands, work the dough until you have a smooth, resilient ball, 3 to 4 minutes. At first the dough will stick to your fingers, but keep working the flour into the other ingredients until the dough suddenly holds together.

Flour both the work surface and your rolling pin, then roll out the pastry dough to about Vs- to Vi6- inch thickness. Entree size should be thicker, hors d’oeuvre size thinner. Cut disks the desired size and set aside. When you have cut as many as possible, gather up the scraps and roll out again. Continue this process two or three times until there is not enough left to cut a disk. If you do not have at least 8 entree or 20 hors d’oeuvre disks, you have not rolled out the pastry thin enough.

Oil a large cookie sheet. Spoon 2 tablespoons filling for entree- or 1 heaping teaspoon for hors d’oeuvre—size empanadas on the disk, making sure the filling is in the center. Moisten the edge of the disk with the egg glaze. Carefully fold the pastry over the filling and crimp the edge seam with a clean, dry fork.

Glaze the top of the pastry with the beaten egg mixture. Garnish with herbs or spices suggested in the filling recipes, if desired, and bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 15 minutes for hors d’oeuvre, 15 to 20 minutes for entree, or until golden brown. Cool on racks.

Source: Empanadas by George and Sherry LaFollette Zabriskie [Clarkson Potter, 1984]

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Cream Cheese Pastry from Mad Hungry

Yield: 10 empanadas

Ingredients:

• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 1 ½ cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling out the dough
• ½ teaspoon coarse salt

Preparation:

Process the butter, cream cheese, and cream in a food processor, electric mixer, or by hand to thoroughly combine.

Add the flour and salt. Process just until combined and the dough holds together in a ball. Turn the dough out onto a well- floured surface. Divide into 2 pieces. Flatten into disks and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before rolling out. If the dough is chilled overnight, take it out 15 minutes before rolling out.

Rub flour all over a rolling pin. Working with one dough disk at a time, place the disk on a clean, well-floured surface. Applying some pressure with the rolling pin, roll gently from the center of the dough to the top and bottom edges. Rotate the disk, and roll to the top and bottom edges again. Reflour the work surface and rolling pin, turn the dough over, and continue to roll the dough from the center out to the edges. Turn over and roll again, rotating the disk to ensure even rolling until the dough is about 12 inches in diameter, thin but not transparent.

Source: Mad Hungry by Lucinda Scala Quinn [Artisan, 2009]

Photo Information [top picture]: Canon T2i, EFS 60 mm Macro Lens, F/3.5 for 1/40th second at ISO‑1000