Courtesy of Ben "Sir K" Greene
There are always many things that happen in a kitchen that don’t really follow a recipe. For most of those things I could show you what I did, but trying to put it in writing is tough. The brine for the chicken is something that I just sort of made up with the ingredients on hand, the Lemon Prosciutto pizza was inspired by a recipe that we heavily modified to suit our needs.
The one recipe that I can definitely say stayed true was the Pork Pie filling. Although I chose to put it in an empanada rather than a traditional pie because it allowed people to enjoy the meal without being tied down to their table, you can use the filling however you like and it will always be delicious. As listed the recipe makes 2 traditional 8’ pies, or about 20 empanadas.
Blackwood Pork Pie Empanadas
| servings: 20 | moderate | 2+ hr
Ingredients:
For the Filling:
8 ounces slab Bacon (medium dice)
2 pounds Ground Pork
Kosher Salt and freshly ground Black Pepper
1 cup chopped Celery
2 cups chopped Red Onions
2 chopped Garlic cloves
1 pound Russet Potatoes (peeled and cut into large dice)
1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf Parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh Savory
pinch of ground Cinnamon
pinch of ground Cloves
20 Frozen Empanada dough rounds (2 packages)
Directions:
1) Put a large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add the bacon and cook until crisp, about 3 minutes.
2) Remove the bacon from the pot and set aside on a plate. Add the ground pork to the pot drippings along with some salt and pepper, and brown for about 3 minutes.
3) Remove the pork from the pot and set aside on the plate with the bacon.
4) Add the celery, onions and garlic and cook for 5 minutes.
5) Deglaze the pot with 1 cup water, scraping up the bits on the bottom with a wooden spoon.
6) Return the pork and bacon to the pot along with the potatoes, celery leaves, parsley, savory, cinnamon and cloves. Simmer for 20 minutes, or until all of the liquid has evaporated.
7) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Meanwhile, defrost 2 packages of empanada dough.
8) Fill the empanadas each with about 2 tablespoons of filling, fold in half making sure that there is no air trapped inside and crimp the edges together with a fork to seal.
9) Brush the tops with an egg yolk mixture.
10) Bake the pies for 20 to30 minutes, until the crusts are golden brown. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
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| Empanadas with accompanying gravy (View Staff) |
