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Empanadas: A Latin American Delight
 This weeks post will be an Off The Menu first: Chef Matt vs. Chef Megs! Megs has made empanadas her way, while Matt has changed his slightly. Note that the fillings in both versions are made with the same recipe. Now before we get to the recipe, a little background about why we've started this food competition. Our tastes can vary bit when it comes to food. Meaning we generally like the same kinds of food but we sometimes differ on how it should be cooked and what ingredients should be used. That's ok though because everybody has different tastes but we thought it would be fun to introduce a new category to this blog called food competitions. Besides, the food competition, while living in Panama, Central America (Chef Matt that is) I had some of the best empanadas and when I got back to the States I was disappointed that I couldn't find them hardly anywhere. That's when we had to take matters into our own hands and make them so without furture ado, the 1st Off The Menu food competition....  Meg's baked version is made with home made dough.  Matt's fried version is made with refrigerated pie crust. This recipe is quite labor intensive because there are a lot of steps involved, but the efforts are worth the end result! Dough Ingredients: 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, softened 2 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 1/2 cup ice water Filling Ingredients: 1 lb. ground turkey (lean ground beef can be used if desired) 1 medium onion, chopped 2 cloves of minced garlic 1/3 cup chopped toasted almonds 1/3 cup dark raisins 6 roma tomatoes 1-2 serrano peppers juice of 2 limes (I used the juice you can buy in the lime shaped squeeze bottle; you can find it in the produce section) 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon ground cumin 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon Steps for Dough: In a large bowl, mix together the flour, shortening, butter, and salt gently with your fingers until small pea to grape sized pieces are formed. Be sure not to over-mix. Slowly stir in the water. As to not over-mix, I used a rubber spatula to carefully stir in the water. Lightly knead the dough with a folding motion only for a minute or until the dough forms a ball; again I used the spatula. Add a little bit more water if dough looks too dry.  Cover dough with a kitchen towel, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling. Steps for Filling: In a large skillet, brown the ground turkey (or beef) over medium heat. While the meat is browning, add the chopped almonds (you can buy them already chopped) to a foil lined pan, and toast them (keeping a close eye on them) in the oven until slightly browned. Chop the onion. I like to use a mini food processor that I have, it is such a useful tool, it saves me so much time.  In a blender, puree the tomatoes one at a time. Once the tomatoes are pureed, add the pepper(s) and the lime juice to the blender and puree. Add the cumin, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and pepper to the puree mixture.  Add the onions to the skillet, and saute for about 2-3 minutes. After the onions have cooked, add the garlic, toasted almonds, and raisins, and let cook for a couple of minutes. When garlic, almonds, and raisins are ready, add the puree mixture. Keep it on the stove until excess moisture has cooked off.  Steps for putting the empanadas together: If using pre-made pie crust, cut several 5" circles. I used a small bowl as my "cookie cutter".  Put filling into the center, making sure not to put too much or else you will have a hard time closing the pastry. I found that about 2-2 1/2 teaspoons of filling works well in a 5" circle.  Fold the dough over, and crimp the edges together very well using your fingers so that the filling will not leak out. If desired, you can add a festive touch by using a fork to make a pattern on the edges.  The prepared empanadas can be fried at 375 degrees F for 2-3 minutes per side. If you have used made your own dough, roll out until the dough is 1/8 of an inch thick. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Again, cut the dough into several 5" circles. Just like with the pie crust version, fill the center with 2-2 1/2 teaspoons of filling. Fold over and crimp edges. Arrange the unbaked empanadas on a greased cookie sheet. Glaze the empanadas with a mixture of 2 tablespoons milk and a beaten egg. Bake the empanadas for 15-20 minutes or until slightly browned. Until the next food competition and there will be a next one...enjoy! 
           
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