Chicken Empanadas Recipe

Step one – heat a tablespoon of oil.

Step two – drop the bottle of oil and spill a cup of it on the floor/cupboard doors.

*sigh*

It’s been that kind of a day.  No, I shouldn’t say that – it hasn’t been that bad, really – but it’s been a bit rough since about 1:30 this afternoon, when I took my kindergarten students down to the church to practice for Mass tomorrow.  They’re going to be up in front, singing in the choir, reading the petitions, and bringing up gifts, so we needed to prepare.  We were in church for all of 45 seconds before three children had broken things.  Three.  Three separate children.  In church.

A little comfort is needed tonight, in the way of empanadas and Just Dance 2.

Chicken Mixture

Oh, and about spilling all the oil… I highly recommend not spilling it in the first place, however if you do, you can just pretend you did it on purpose to shine the floors.  A combination of equal parts vegetable oil and white vinegar makes a mean hardwood floor cleaner/shiner.  Seriously.

Chicken Empanada Recipe

adapted from Food for my Family

Ingredients

• pie dough
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• yellow onion, diced
• 1/2 cup sauteed mushrooms*
• 1 tablespoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 cup cooked chicken, shredded
• 1/2 cup sliced green olives
• 2 hard boiled eggs, chopped
• 1 tablespoon water
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Heat olive oil over medium heat. Add in onions, paprika, cumin and honey. Sautee for 10 minutes until onions become translucent. Add in chicken, olives, eggs, mushrooms, water and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and allow to sit for 30 minutes before adding to empanada dough circles.
2. Roll out pie dough in 6″ circles. Fill each with 2 tablespoons chicken mixture. Fold in half and pinch at seams. Roll seams in and press with fork to seal. Beat egg yolk and brush over tops of empanadas. Allow to rest in fridge for 30 minutes before baking to prevent leaks.
3. Bake at 400º F for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

*The original recipe calls for 3 green chiles, but we happened to have sauteed mushrooms instead.

An Un-folded Empanada