Chorizo Empanadas

Enticing Empanadas --

When I was in Spain a few years back with my family celebrating my parents' 50th wedding anniversary, we had a lot of excellent restaurant meals in addition to the meals we fixed ourselves at the villa we stayed in. One thing we didn't eat in Spain was tapas.

I'd been looking forward to trying tapas in Spain since my first visit to a tapas place in DC a couple of years earlier. But every time I'd bring the subject up -- and I brought it up several times -- my mother immediately squashed the idea. I've no idea why.

So I was surprised a couple of weeks ago when she called and said she was having a tapas party and would I make empanadas for it. I've still no idea why she was so opposed to tapas in Spain -- and I'm 90 percent sure she wouldn't remember it as I do so I haven't asked. But I've been meaning to make empanadas for some time and this, obviously, was the perfect excuse.

It turns out that empanadas are primarily a Latin American dish. I only found one Spanish recipe in my searching. But who cares? They certainly make nice two-bite morsels suitable for munching with a glass of sherry or wine and it would be easy enough to create a recipe that tasted more of Spain than Honduras or Cuba so that's what I did.

They turned out fine if not excellent, the main problem with them was the Spanish Chorizo. Although I cut it into little dice -- a tad over 1/8 inch -- the pieces were still too chewy. So in the recipe below I recommend coarsely processing the sausage to make the overall texture of the empanadas more palatable.

Chorizo Empanadas

Pastry for two crust pie
4 oz Spanish chorizo
1/2 ea medium Spanish onion -- 1/4" dice (about 1/2 c)
1/4 ea red bell pepper -- 1/4" dice (about 1/2 c)
1 ea yellow potato (about 3" in diameter)
1/2 tsp dried Herbes de Province
1/2 tsp coarse salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 c chicken stock
2 tbsp white wine
1 ea egg
Smoked Spanish paprika

Make pastry, divide in half, form into flattened balls, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate.

Peel and cut potato into 3/4" dice. Place in a covered, microwave-safe container and cook on high for about 5 minutes or until fork tender. Drain, rinse, and cool. Mash coarsely with fork.

Cut chorizo into 1/4" dice and process until coarsely chopped in a food processor. In a large bowl, thoroughly mix potato, chorizo, onion, bell pepper, herbs, salt, pepper, chicken stock, and wine. Mixture should be slightly moist but not wet -- you may need to add a bit more wine.

Heat oven to 400F.

Roll out pastry as for pie crust and cut into 3" diameter circles (I used a glass and knife to cut the rounds). Moisten half the edge of a round (I find my finger, dipped in a small bowl of water works best), place a rounded tablespoon of filling toward the moistened edge, fold other side over, and crimp edges with fingers to seal. Place filled empanadas on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Beat egg with a tablespoon of water and brush tops of the empanadas with the mixture. Cut a slit in the top of each pastry and then sprinkle lightly with paprika. Bake about 30 minutes or until lightly browned. Makes about 30 empanadas.

These are good hot, but also at room temperature. They should freeze well, unbaked, and I would put them unthawed in a 400F oven for 40 - 45 minutes to bake.

And whatever my mother's problem was in Spain, she did like these little beggars.

For more recipes and essays on food and cooking log on to Seriously Good.