Sorry it has been over a week since I wrote my last blog. Let me begin by giving an update on my traveling empanadas. As you know, I froze the fig and goat cheese empanadas before baking them, and then took them to Colorado with me. I was a little worried they would defrost on the plane ride and get mushy, but they actually kept quite well. I got to Colorado Friday afternoon, went straight to my friend Jessica's condo and put the empanadas in the freezer. Then Saturday we filled a cooler with a bunch of food to make dinner for about 15 people that night up in Beaver Creak. When we got to Beaver Creek that afternoon I decided the empanadas would be a good appetizer to have while we were having drinks out on the patio. I baked them up at about 375 degrees, and after 25 minutes in the oven, they were perfection. Everyone thoroughly enjoyed them. I have to say, adding caramelized onions to the empanadas really filled them out and made them delicious. I think my friend Casey liked them more than anyone else(she kept coming back again and again for a half of an empanada!). Here is everyone sitting on the patio waiting for the empanadas.
Now onto this week's empanada adventure. On Saturday my new roommate Anne, and I decided to throw a little party at our apartment. The party was in celebration of the end of summer, the new school year and Anne moving in. When we decided to throw the party, I thought, what a great opportunity for people to enjoy my empanadas! I thought about what kind to make, and couldnt decide, so I called my mom. She asked me what the theme for the party was, and I quickly responded "booze". We are in grad school after all, we need to let loose on the weekends! My mom then suggested I make an empanada that had some sort of liquor in it.
My first inclination was to make a recipe that I have made before. A crab and shrimp empanada with a sherry bechamel sauce. Then I decided it would be fun to also try something new. I rarely ever make dessert empanadas, so why not debut one at the party! After some careful thinking, it came to me. I wanted to do some sort of twist on bananas foster. I knew I couldnt put ice cream into the empanadas, so I thought why not just add in some chocolate chips and pecans to fill it out.
Now that I have introduced the two types of empanadas I made, lets dive into the recipes. I started off with making the sherry bechamel sauce. This is something that has become sort of second nature to me. I use the basic sauce in a lot of different empanada recipes that I have made in the past, most notably my spinach empanadas. I started off with melting two tablespoons of unsalted butter in a sauce pan. After it all melted I added 2 tablespoons of flour. The trick here is you need to make sure to whisk the two together quickly so as to get rid of any lumps.
After mixing in the flour, I added almost a cup of light cream. You need to be careful and add the cream slowly, whisking away at the same time, again to avoid lumpiness to the sauce.
Once you have added all the cream, and you have a nice thick white cream sauce, go ahead and add a little salt and pepper. Keeping the heat on medium, you can then add the sherry. I am not sure how much I added, in the end probably ended up being 4 tablespoons or so. It is really easy to just add a little and taste, thats what I do. Depending on what you are trying to make, you can put as much or as little sherry as you want.
Once the sauce was done, I decided to get going on the shrimp. I bought lump crab meat in a can, so I didnt need to prepare the crab at all. For the shrimp, I bought frozen uncooked shrimp from Trader Joe's. They are a great deal there. Even the crab at TJ's was not too expensive. Once I defrosted the shrimp, I set them aside and began to melt about a tablespoon of unsalted butter. When the butter was melted I added a few tablespoons of dry white wine, some lemon juice, salt and pepper. I then added the shrimps to the pan. Shrimp takes almost no time to cook, so make sure to stay close by. You dont want to overcook the shrimp, or else it gets gummy, which is no good. When the shrimp were done, I couldnt help myself but to try one. They were scrumptious. Cooked just right, with the perfect amount of acidity.
I chopped up the shrimp, and then mixed them in a bowl with the lump crab meat. Then, I poured in the bechamel sauce that I made a little earlier over the crab and shrimp. In the past that is all I did for this recipe, but this time I decided to add one more ingredient, Italian flat leaf parsley. The parsley really adds a mice crisp fresh taste to the dish.
The crab and shrimp filling was ready, so I set it aside, and put it in the refrigerator while I started on the banana filling. This filling was extra fun, and I have to say one of the most delicious empanadas I have ever made in my life. I started out by cutting up the banana. I had 2.5 ripe ones on hand, so thats how many I used.
Once the bananas were chopped and ready to go, I started to melt the butter, about 3 tablespoons. Then I added a hefty amount of brown sugar. I figured, you can never make a sweet empanada too sweet! Once the brown sugar had dissolved I was ready to add the chopped bananas. I cooked the chopped bananas in the wonderful sugar butter mixture for a few minutes.
Now I was ready for the real action. I added a shot of brandy and a little bit of rum to the pan. Then BAM! I lit it on fire like they do in the restaurants. I was a little scared becuase I just got my bangs cut and I was worried the fire would burn them off and then get to my eyebrows, but I was lucky.... Actually, the flame was not that big. Less dramatic than I had expected. I figured out though if you stir it around a little the flame got bigger. After about a minute and a half the flame died away. The bananas were done!
I decided to strain the bananas from the gooey wonderful buttery sauce. You never want to have too much liquid in the empanada filling or else they ooze out when you bake them. Dont worry though, I kept the sauce in a Tupperware for later (I bet it tastes delicious on vanilla bean ice cream!).
Once the banana was strained I added in the semisweet chocolate chips and some chopped pecans. The smell was irresistible. It was like someone had blended bananas foster with chocolate pecan pie, I mean, can you imagine anything better!?
Now that both fillings were done, it was time to get going on putting the empanadas together. I started off with filling the dessert empanadas. My friend Dawn Marie was over, and she was really itching to try one of the banana empanadas, so I figured I should get to those first. Because I was having a party and was expecting 40-50 people, I decided to make little bite sized empanadas. I used the dough purchased at Giant supermarket, but cut the circles in half. The empanadas were in little triangle shapes. Once they were filled and ready to go in the oven, I brushed them with the usual egg wash, but then decided to add a little flavor and fun, and I sprinkled some brown sugar and cinnamon on top of them.
After about 20-25 minutes in the oven at 375, the empanadas were ready. They smelled like the most delicious, chocolaty amazingness that had ever come out of my oven. Dawn couldnt wait to try one, so she dove right in.
Before moving onto the crab and shrimp empanadas, we had to stop to do a little party prep. The highlight of the party (besides my empanadas ofcourse) was our "brew tub". We decided it would be a great idea to fill Anne's bathtub with ice, and then throw all the beer in it. Our fridge likely would not hold enough beer for the number of people coming to our party. Here is a quick look at the creative and wonderful brew tub.
Now onto the crab and shrimp empanadas. I filled them the same way as the banana ones, in small half circles. Rather than sprinkling brown sugar and cinnamon on top, eww that would have been really gross, I did an egg wash and then sprinkled Parmesan cheese on top.
The empanadas were done, the brew tub was filled, it was now time to party. By the end of the night there were no empanadas left, and the brew tub was almost empty. All in all, everything was a success. I will definitely be making the banana empanadas again, probably over Thanksgiving. They were so tasty, and perfect for the fall holiday!
Until the nest pocket adventure!
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