Empanadas

I flew out to Philadelphia today. To spend a week in southern New Jersey with the in-laws.

And since I just got an iPhone, I'll probably be snapping photos the entire time. We'll see if I can figure out how to post any here without calling my computer-genius brother-in-law...

 Oh! And I actually like my in-laws. Strange, I know. 

I think part of it has to do with the fact that besides my MIL, it's all boys. So they have no idea what to do with me. And then I do things like helping to fix something broken with power tools. Which blows all perceived pretty-pretty-princess notions away.

I like keeping them on their toes. It's more fun that way.

Speaking of on one's toes - I'm always on tip-toe when hot oil is involved.

I seriously go up, nearly on point, and arch my back so that my tummy is as far away from the pan as possible when I drop things in to fry them. 

It's pretty funny to see. 

That's what I looked like making these empanadas. 

Start off with the dough - masa harina (corn meal), flour, baking powder, salt, shortening. In a bowl.

Work it until it looks like coarse sand.

Then add cold water, quickly form it into a ball, and divide it into 12 equal little balls.

Brown off the chicken in a large skillet.

Put it in a bowl and add sofrito, smoked paprika, and mexican oregano.

Then mix in the cheese.... if you take a cheese nibble, I won't tell anyone.

Now - press out your dough balls and add a little filling.

Fold over the dough, and crimp with your fingers or a fork to seal. You need to have them super sealed - that way the filling doesn't fall out in the hot oil. Super important.

Now, into the shimmering oil they go! Stand on your tip-toes! And always flip away from you. If you flip towards you, you might have a splash incident. And wind up with a not-so-nifty burn.

Once the empanadas are finished cooking, put them on a plate and keep them warm in a 200 degree oven. It totally works. And I think it helps de-grease them slightly too. 

Serve with avocado. And cheese. 'Cause there's nothing wrong with a little more queso.

Empanadas

Makes 12 empanadas

Adapted from Mexican magazine, Better Homes & Gardens

1 c. masa harina (corn meal)

1 c. flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 c. shortening

2/3 c. ice water

1 lb ground chicken (or turkey)

1/2 c. fresh sofrito

1 tsp mexican oregano

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 c. oaxaca or other mexican melting cheese (or mozzarella, if desperate)

Preheat oven to 200 degrees.

In a large bowl, mix masa harina, flour, baking powder, and salt. Add in shortening, and work in with pastry blender or fingers until it resembles coarse sand. Pour water (not ice) into the mix and swiftly form a large ball. 

Divide the ball into 12 equal pieces. Cover pieces lightly with plastic wrap or a damp towel to keep from drying out.

In a large skillet, brown the ground chicken. Transfer to a bowl and wipe out your skillet. In the bowl with the chicken, add sofrito, paprika, oregano, and cheese. Mix.

Using a tortilla press or a rolling pin, make the dough balls into 6" circles. You can do this one at a time, but if you do multiple, put them between layers of wax paper to prevent sticking. Also - remember to wax paper your tortilla press, if using. 

Place about a 1/3 c. of the chicken filling mixture off to one side of the circle. Fold the other half over, and crimp edges with your fingers or a fork. Set on waxed paper when finished.

In your large skillet, heat 1" of oil until shimmering. Carefully place empanadas in the oil and cook till browned on both sides.

Once empanadas are done, place on a paper towel on an oven-safe plate and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve.

Garnish with avocado, salsa, cheese, cilantro - whatever you'd like.

Paella with Chicken and Chorizo

I promised you good things. 

I don't break promises!

Trust me. This is a very, very good thing.

Mr. S and I have made many a paella. He got me a paella set for Christmas a year or two ago. It came with a pan, a jar of safron, special rice, a jar of sofrito, and a bottle of Spanish red wine. Unfortunately, the initial shipment got jostled too much and the sofrito jar broke and spilled everywhere! The pan had gotten the worst of it, and had begun to rust in spots.

After I joyfully opened my gift, discovered the mess and the rusted pan, and Mr. S nearly exploded, we called the company and they shipped us a new kit. 

Meanwhile, I got out my steel wool. And got rid of the rust. 

Now we have TWO paella pans!! The more the merrier. (And we were definitely merrier after the second bottle of wine arrived too. Woot!)

So here's the thing - Paella really isn't hard. It just takes special stuff. Once you get that stuff, you're on your way to some wonderful meals. 

Start off with the chicken. Coat it in paprika (both regular and smoked if you've got it) and oregano.

Then slice up the chorizo or salami and fry it up. It will release a lot of oil. That's good, since we're not going to be adding any....

Once the cured meat is browned, remove it from the pan and put the chicken in. Skin side down first. Brown it nicely on both sides.

Remove the chicken and add in the sofrito. That's right. That delicious veggie sauce you made. Add a whole cup!

And toss in some large chunks of red pepper too. Color and texture right there.

In a small pot, get your chicken stock warmed up. Add in the safron threads.

Once the sofrito's cooked down a bit, add the rice to the paella pan. 

Toss it around to coat it. 

Then add the chicken stock/safron. It probably won't all fit. That's ok. You can add more later.

Let the rice cook for 10 minutes - and NO STIRRING!!

After 10 minutes, nestle the chicken down in the rice, add the chorizo back in and cover with the rest of the chicken stock. Allow that to cook on medium heat for about 10-15 more minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. 

Remove from the heat and add peas, olives, and chopped cilantro. 

Serve on a patio table, with red wine and a happy husband.

Paella with Chicken and Chorizo

Serves 2-3

Adapted from Tyler Florence

2 chicken leg quarters

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp smoked paprika

1 tsp oregano

1 Spanish chorizo sausage (or Italian salami if you can't find chorizo)

1 cup sofrito

1 red bell pepper

2 c. chicken stock

1/2 tsp safron threads (one large pinch)

1 c. paella rice

5-6 black and green olives, quartered

1/4 c. frozen peas, thawed

chopped cilantro for garnish

Special equipment: 10" paella pan

Take the chicken leg quarters and remove any extra rib bones so that you are left with just the thigh and the leg. Leave the skin on. Sprinkle with paprikas and oregano and rub in to coat. 

Bring your chicken stock to a boil in a small pot.

Put your paella pan on medium-low heat. Slice the chorizo or salami into 1/4" thick rounds. Place in pan and let brown. Remove chorizo from pan, but retain oil.

Place chicken, skin side down into the pan and allow to brown on both sides. Remove from pan.

Pour the sofrito into the paella pan. Raise the heat to medium high. Chop the red pepper into bite sized pieces (removing seeds and pith) and put in pan with sofrito. Allow to cook down for at least 2-3 minutes. Sprinkle the safron into the chicken stock while the sofrito and peppers are cooking.

Gently pour the rice into the paella pan, and toss it to coat the grains. Pour the chicken stock/safron mixture into the pan (it might not all fit, that's ok) and allow to cook for 10 minutes. No stirring!!

After 10 minutes, nestle the chicken quarters and chorizo back down in the pan. Add the rest of the broth. Allow to cook on medium heat for another 10-15 minutes. If you smell burning, the rice is done! Burning is just part of paella. It's a flavor you want!

Remove the paella from the heat and top with peas, olives, and cilantro. Allow it to rest 5 minutes before you serve it.

Sofrito

I'm not cheating you guys out of a recipe. Promise! We're just laying the foundations here. Everyone needs a good foundation to their kitchen empire. Be patient. I think you'll like Wednesday.

Sofrito is a base. It's usable in lots of different applications. Like casseroles, paellas, stews, enchiladas, and anything else with a good sauce component. 

You can buy this stuff in a jar at the grocery store, or you can make it yourself. 

Guess which one we go for??

It's super easy - And it involves an electric appliance with metal blades. Which means Mr. S is totally excited to help.

Gather your veggies. (Yes, this is a vegetarian sauce. Quit bellyaching.)

Chop them all up! You don't have to worry about size, it's all going into the food processor.

(There's a missing vegetable in all these pictures. We forgot it and then had to go back and re-blenderize everything. Can you guess what it is?)

All the veggies go into the chopper bowl.

And get blenderized to bits!

(Figured out what's missing yet?)

If you forget one of the veggies - like the ONION!! - you need to blenderize it and then add it in.....

We can ours in old pasta sauce jars to use for later cooking adventures.

Sofrito 

Makes - 2 pasta sauce jars full (or about 1 qt)
Adapted from Hector Rodriguez

2 red peppers 

2 green peppers

1 bunch of cilantro

1 jalapeno pepper (or serrano if you like it spicy)

2 large tomatoes

1 head of garlic

2 white onions

Chop everything into large-ish pieces. Put it all in a food processor (you might have to do this in batches). Blitz till smooth. 

Jar and you're ready to use!

Caprese Towers

It's Friday. A day for simple pleasures. To balance off the crazy of the last week. 

This recipe is as simple as it gets. 

We eat caprese towers a lot in the summer. The tomatoes are in season. Our basil plants are aggressively taking over the pot they are in (watch out, serrano pepper plant!). And the mozzarella is on sale at the grocery store. 

Oh! and I finally managed to locate that last bottle of good olive oil we bought in Italy.

First start with the ingredients. 

Slice them all up.

Start piling...

and piling....

and piling!

Then drizzle with oil.  A good one.

Add some salt and enjoy! Nice and easy. And sorta healthy! Hah!

Caprese Towers

Serves 2

2 tomatoes, firmish and of good quality

1 ball fresh mozzarella cheese

Handful of fresh basil leaves

Drizzle of good quality olive oil

Sprinkle of sea salt

Slice the tomatoes in 1/4" thick slices. A serrated knife works best. 

Slice the mozzarella into equally thick slices. 

Slice up the basil into strips.

Assemble the tower: Tomato, cheese, basil. Repeat.

Once towers are assembled, drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Serve.

Salted Double Chocolate Cookies

I've made these a few times over the last few weeks.

At the loud requests of friends and co-workers (and husband).

Fair Warning: These are clean-the-plate cookies. Oops-I-just-ate-ten cookies. Where-did-all-the-cookies-go? cookies. 

If you make them once, you'll be making them again. Perhaps because they ended up eaten before they got to the event they were supposed to be at.... Bringing crumbs to a party is in really bad taste. Make sure you have a back-up plan.

Not that I have any experience in that sort of thing. 

I will now, however, know where the closest grocery store is to any given party location..... 

Back to the cookies. They are super easy - 

Butter, sugars, vanilla. Beat.

Add eggs. Beat.

In another bowl, whisk flour, dark cocoa powder, salt, baking soda.

Add half the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Beat.

Add the other half. Beat.

The dough gets pretty stiff.  Be sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl. 

Now, add your chocolate chips and chunked up candy bar. Mix them in with a wooden spoon.

Next up, ball that dough. About a tablespoon a ball.

Cook for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately grind one twist of salt over the top of each cookie. 

And I mean immediately. Don't put the other pan in the oven. Don't run to the bathroom. Don't try to finish that last chapter of the book you're reading. 

Sprinkle the salt. QUICK!

And you're done! Serve to your adoring fans.

Salted Double Chocolate Cookies

Serves: a party

Adapted from the Original Nestle Tollhouse Cookie recipe - yes, the one on the bag.

1 c. (2 sticks) butter, softened

1 c. sugar

3/4 c. brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

2 1/4 c. flour

1/4 c. dark cocoa powder

1 tsp baking soda 

1 tsp salt

1 1/2 c. chocolate chips

1 dark chocolate candy bar, chunked into small pieces

Coarse-ish salt for sprinkling

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. 

In a large bowl beat the butter, sugars, and vanilla until fluffy. Add in eggs and beat. 

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. 

Add half of the dry ingredients to the wet. Beat until combined. Add the other half. Beat until combined.

Add the chocolate chips and candy bar. Stir them in with a spoon until evenly distributed. 

Roll tablespoon-sized balls and place on a cookie sheet. Cook for 10 minutes. Immediately upon taking them from the oven, sprinkle with salt. 

Serve.