Empanadas Baby!

Hello Again! I am back with another recipe! Today we are going to make a popular Hispanic dish called empanadas! Countries in Central and South America have their own versions of this dish, and also have ways of calling them. The ways to make them are endless, and you can get creative and try different fillings of your own. I will share with you my version of this yummy dish that can be eaten as a snack or you can have 2 and make it a meal :) You can make these baked or fried; either way tastes very good, but we are trying to be healthy so we will be baking them :) These are a huge hit with my friends, family, and co-workers. For my vegetarian friends, not to worry! I have a recipe for vegetarian empanadas too! They are just as yummy and sometimes I actually prefer them! I will be posting the recipe for that this week!

I have also included the recipe for the Peruvian green sauce that I used to dip them in…you will be putting this sauce on EVERYTHING once you try it.

What you will need (makes 10 empanadas):

Ingredients for the empanadas:

3 chicken breasts (cut in half)

Sazon Goya

Pepper

Old Bay Seasoning

Lowrys Baja Chipotle Marinade

Goya Sofrito

Garlic powder

Adobo (optional)

Pico De Gallo

Diced Red and Green bell pepper

Empanada Dough (large), thawed (found in the freezer aisle, if your local grocery store doesn’t have them, I have been told you can either use pie crust or pizza dough)

Black Beans (optional)

Corn (optional)

Grape seed oil

Ingredients for the sauce:

Fat free sour cream (16 oz)

Juice of half a lime

1 Jalepeno

1 bundle of cilantro

white vinegar

Parmesan cheese

First, rinse your chicken, cut the fat and discard. Cut each breast in half and cut into small cubes. Use half a packet of the Sazon Goya, add pepper, Old Bay Seasoning, and garlic powder. Coat the chicken in the Lowrys Baja Chipotle marinade. You can either allow this to marinade overnight for maximum absorbtion of flavors, or you can cook right away. Its your preference! Either way it comes out yummy J Once you have let the chicken marinade, set your stove to medium high, and heat up your skillet with 2 teaspoons of grape seed oil. Cook the chicken through, and add 2 table spoons of sofrito to your chicken.

Reduce the heat to medium low. Now we move on to one of my favorite parts ;) tasting! Taste the chicken to make sure it tastes to your liking. Add more Old Bay, or Sazon or even more of the marinade to make it taste how you would like. Continue to cook the chicken on low heat for another 5 minutes. Transfer the chicken into a large bowl or tupperware. Here is where it good to have strong arms (yes that is the theme of my recipes it seems so far lol) because we are going to mash the chicken into finer pieces to make the filling. You can use metal wisk to do this by pressing down on the chicken with the wisk. You can also use a potato masher, but not the plastic kind….trust me..it does not work! Once you broken up the chicken into smaller pieces, add your pico de gallo, your red and green bell pepper, black beans (drained), and corn. Mix it around with the chicken, and there you have it! There is your filling.

Take the empanada dough and scoop 2 teaspoons of filling into the center. Fold the dough in half and crimp the edges with a fork to seal. Repeat this step 10 times. As you are filling each empanada, pre heat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place each empanada on the baking sheet. Bake the empanadas for 30 minutes, or until your desired brown-ness. If you are like me, you will eat them right out of the oven…(because I simply cant wait), or you can let them cool for 5 minutes so you don’t burn your tongue.

For the dipping sauce:

Scoop the entire contents of the sour cream container into a blender or food processor. Chop up 2 handfuls of cilantro, add to the sour cream, garlic, and a sprinkle of parmesan cheese, and a capful of white vinegar. Optional to add a seeded jalepeno for an added kick to the sauce. Blend in the food processor or blender, season to taste with salt and pepper.

I literally just stare through the oven while they are cooking, as if that's going to make them cook faster :)

#empanadas #hispanic #alittlebitofyummy