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Tag Archives: pastry

Pork Empanadas with Cabbage

25 Sunday Nov 2018

Posted by Fabric of Madness in cabbage, Dinner, Pies, Pork, Uncategorized, Vegetables

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Dinner, pastry, Pork, vegetables

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Cabbage you say!  Yep,  I didn’t fancy currants, olives and capers as per the recipe I was looking at, and I knew for certain Mr MWCED was not going to want currants and olives, so I figured best substitution was something fresh from the garden, and cabbage it was.

Usually we make these in the winter, but it was a chilly evening so I thought they would be perfect. And they were.   This recipe is an amalgamation of a couple from the web – the filling (apart from the bits I didn’t use!) came from Emerils.com with the pastry from My Colombian Recipes  (and while you are there check out the amazing recipe for Columbian Black Cake – I am definitely going to try that!)

Search out my post from last year for Rustic Chicken Empanadas for another take.

Enjoy your Empanadas!

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Pork Empanadas

Dough:

2-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
115 gms butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg
¼ cup ice cold water (or a little more if your mixture is too dry).

Mix flour and salt in the food processor then add butter, egg and cold water. Pulse until mixture comes together.   Shape into a ball, wrap and refrigerate for between 30 minutes to an hour (no panic if it is a bit longer).

Filling:

350g pork mince
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon ground cumin
¼ teaspoon ground allspice
¼ teaspoon dried oregano (or mixed herbs)
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (or chilli flakes)
½ cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced/chopped (whatever you prefer) garlic
Diced capsicum – about half a cup
3 tablespoons tomato paste
2 tablespoons cider vinegar (can substitute with rice vinegar)
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
1 cup water
Chopped cabbage (we picked ours from the garden – use as much or as little as you like)

1 large egg, lightly beaten (for brushing finished pastries)

While the dough is chilling, prepare the filling.  In a medium frypan over high heat, combine the pork, cinnamon, cumin, allspice, oregano and crushed red pepper and cook until meat is golden brown and cooked through (about 6 minutes) – use a spoon to break meat up if it is forming clumps.  Add onion and cook until soft, about 4 minutes then add garlic and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly.  Add the capsicum, tomato paste, vinegar, brown sugar and stir to thoroughly to combine.  Stir in the water and reduce the heat to medium.  Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce is very thick and flavours have come together – about 15 minutes.   At about the 10 minute stage, add chopped cabbage.

Once finished take off heat and let cool.     Before you roll out the dough and fill the pies, heat oven to around 180 F.

Place the dough on a floured surface and sprinkle with flour.  Roll out to a circle about 1/8” thick.  Using a small saucer as a guide, cut as many rounds as you can.  Press scraps together and knead again to reform dough to cut more.  We got 9 from our pastry, enough for dinner and a couple of freezer meals (1-1/2 pastries each was plenty).

Using a tablespoon, top one side of dough with about 2 tablespoons of the cooled meat filling.  Using a pastry brush, brush the edges of one side of a round with some of the beaten egg, then fold the edges over so that the dough meets to form a half-circle shaped pie.  Using the tines of a fork, press the edges of the dough circle firmly to crimp.

Line a baking tray with baking paper (or use nonstick cooking spray) and place the pies on the tray.  Using the tip of a small knife, cut several small slits into the top of each empanada to allow air escape while baking.

Brush empanadas with leftover egg mixture.

Put tray into oven and bake for around 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

I served this with a fresh green salad: frilly lettuce from the garden; tomatoes; blanched asparagus and fresh herbs (mint and basil).   We also had an onion marmalade.

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Merry Merry 2017

26 Tuesday Dec 2017

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Appetisers, Christmas, Scallops, Uncategorized

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Christmas, entree, pastry, Scallops

A very quiet one for us – but great nonetheless to kick back,  relax and feast.  The day was sunny and warm – no wind – perfect for a mid-afternoon lunch outside.  The Champagne got opened while putting the finishing touches to lunch – and ‘mmmmmmm’ it was a great drop –  Perrier-Jouët Grand Brut – delectably dry and a perfect complement to the entrées.

Our feast menu was far far too much food, but isn’t that what you do on Christmas day?  The menu:

  • Barbeque prawns with chilli and lime dressing
  • Scallop tarts with pea and mint purée
  • Ham on the bone glazed with Bourbon, orange marmalade and ginger
  • Chicken breast rolled in Bacon stuffed with Cranberries and Pinenuts
  • Roast beetroot salad, with Feta, Red Pepper and Red Onion
  • New potatoes

It was great team-work with Mr MWCED and I in the kitchen.   All came together perfectly and we even managed to have a clean kitchen at the end of the day.

BUT….. I hear you say…….. where was dessert?   Can you REALLY believe we could fit dessert in after all of the above?   We just couldn’t.  Not even later in the evening.  And Mr MWCED had made some special almond tuilles for an easy ice-cream sandwich.  Yup, we even said ‘no’ to ice-cream.

Most of the food we have made before and roll out from time to time – but the newbie for us was the Scallop Tarts.   Will definitely repeat – and hope you might enjoy trying these too:

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2 sheets frozen puff pastry
40g butter chopped
1 small onion, chopped finely ( I used a shallot)
¾ cup (90g) frozen peas
¼ cup fresh mint leaves
18 large (400g) scallops without roe
30 g micro greens
1-1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
lemon wedges to serve

Preheat oven to 220.celsius (200.celsius fan-forced). Line two oven trays with baking paper.

Cut out 8 x 10cm rounds (or whatever size you want – I made mine quite small to fit just one scallop on); place on trays. Top with another sheet of baking paper, then another baking tray (this stops pastry puffing during cooking). Bake pastry for around 12 minutes or until golden or crisp.

Melt butter in a medium pan over medium heat; cook onion until soft but not coloured. Add peas and water and bring to boil. Simmer for around 3 minutes until peas are tender. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.   Process pea mixture and mint in a small food processor until smooth, taste and adjust seasoning if required.     If made ahead, put covered in fridge and then reheat slowly in oven prior to using.

Either barbeque scallops, briefly on each side, or heat oil in frying pan and cook on stove-top.

Divide pea puree between the pastry rounds, scatter micro-greens over puree, top with scallop/s and serve.

the above will serve 8 as a starter – I halved the ingredients for 3 of us – this is an easy recipe to increase or decrease as required.

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Quick Portguese Custard Tarts

17 Sunday Sep 2017

Posted by Fabric of Madness in Desserts, Uncategorized

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custard, dessert, pastry, quick, tarts

Ok so this feels like the cartoon version of a seriously good piece of literature.  But there are times that you don’t want to spend hours preparing a tasty treat, and once again that rolled around for me last night.  Another rugby game,  cannelloni in the oven for the main and I thought at half time what better than a little tarty treat.     The trick was to precook during the afternoon then fill and heat quickly at the beginning of half time.   Not only did it all work perfectly but the ABs managed a spectacular record breaking win against the South Africans.   A great night then.

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These tarts would be perfect when you have a load of people, and want something quick and easy.   You can play around with the filling.  This one was total cheat from start to finish – but Jamie Oliver has a lovely quick custard filling that is not out of a box – I haven’t tried it,  but just might next time I make these.  Jamie Oliver’s trick with the cinnamon I did use, and boy it is definitely going to be repeated – legend.  Go here for Jamie Oliver’s take, which I just tweaked a little.  (It is so refreshing to watch him in action – so much energy).   Easy too to just add a little something in the middle before you fill with custard (maybe a raspberry, maybe a little chocolate), or finely grate some lemon peel and add it to the custard.

Recipe –  for six small tarts

Take one sheet of sweet short pastry.  (You can also use puff – we just happened to have short).   If it is frozen then allow to sit on bench for around 15 minutes until it has softened.   Sprinkle cinnamon all over the pastry and then roll up into a log shape.   Cut the log into 2, then cut each piece into 3.     Take one of the pieces, push it down with your palm so it is rounded.   You should be able to put that into a small muffin tin so that the pastry comes up the sides.  Squish it around until it fills the space.   Do that with all of the other 5 pieces.  Prick the bottoms of the pastry and then put in fridge for around 15 minutes (or more – it can fit in with whatever timetable you are working to).  Put oven on to around 180C, and when ready put pastry/muffin tin into the oven.  Cook for about 10-15 minutes.  Watch them – I just about lost mine as they were ready earlier than I had thought  –  so our pastry cases ended up quite crunchy –  but still great.

When you take the cases out of the oven you will probably have to push down the pastry with the back of a teaspoon (or fingers – go on – be honest – it’s easier).  You could of course fill each tart with a piece of baking paper and then use some baking beans to hold the pastry down while you cook it. (I preferred just to have another glass of wine).  Once cool take the pastries out of the pan and store.

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Just out of the oven – you can see they are just slightly too browned – but luckily not burnt!

When ready to serve pop cases back onto an oven tray,  open a packet of your favourite ready-made custard and pour into pastry cases until level with the top of the case.  Put into a warm oven (around 140C) for about 15 minutes – you want to gently heat them – not overcook the pastry cases.     When ready top with sifted icing sugar, or any other special treat that takes your fancy.   Some grated chocolate could be good.   Voilà. Done.

 

 

 

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