Enlarge image i For chef and restauranteur Jose Garces, watching football on television as a boy also meant snacking on his mother's homemade empanadas.
For chef and restauranteur Jose Garces, watching football on television as a boy also meant snacking on his mother's homemade empanadas.
Say "Super Bowl" to Philadelphia chef and restaurateur Jose Garces, and he instantly recalls winter Sundays growing up in Chicago. "While my dad and two brothers and I were watching a Bears football game, empanadas would just appear in front of my lap," he tells All Things Considered host Melissa Block.
Every Latin American country boasts their own empanadas baked or fried pockets of dough stuffed with cheese, meat or some other filling. The empanadas Garces ate as a child reflected his family's Ecuadorian roots.
The chef has shared two empanada recipes with NPR: his mother's Empanadas de Viento, made with Queso Fresco, and his grandmother's Empanadas de Verde con Pollo, found below.
Recipe: Empanadas de Verde con Pollo
(Green Plantain Empanadas with Braised Chicken)
Makes 12 empanadas
The plantains must be squeezed through a ricer twice to create a smooth dough and develop the starches. The small dough rounds can be refrigerated for a few hours if covered tightly with plastic wrap; same goes for the formed empanadas. But don't push the timing the dough will begin to dry out and crack after 3 hours. Any leftover chicken filling is excellent in tacos or on a salad.
Dough
2 Green plantains (about 1 pound)
Kosher salt
Chicken Filling
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, coarsely cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast, coarsely cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 Spanish onion, diced small
1 tablespoon minced garlic (3 to 4 cloves)
1 teaspoon Spanish smoked sweet paprika
1 tablespoon achiote paste
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds, toasted and ground
1 cup chicken stock
1 small Yukon gold potato, peeled, diced small, and blanched
1/2 pound fresh English peas, shelled and blanched
1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 scallions (white and green parts), minced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 qts vegetable oil, for frying
Aji costeno, for serving
To peel the plantains, split the skins lengthwise with a sharp knife and soak in warm water until the skins are easily removed, about 30 minutes.
To make the dough, bring a large saucepan of lightly salted water to a boil and cook the plantains until they are soft, about 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow the plantains to rest in the water until they are cool to the touch.
Pass the cooked plantains through a ricer into a bowl. Rice the plantains a second time. Knead the resulting dough until it is very smooth, about 5 minutes. Allow the dough to rest at room temperature, covered with a damp towel, for 1 hour before making the empanadas.
To make the filling, heat the butter and olive oil in a cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken, onion and garlic and cook until lightly browned, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the paprika, achiote paste, tomato paste, and cumin and cook for 2 to 3 minutes more. Add the stock, potato, peas, cilantro, parsley and scallions and season to taste with salt and pepper. Let the mixture cool to room temperature. Lift out the chicken meat, shred it and mix it back into the filling.
To assemble the empanadas, divide the dough into a dozen 1-inch balls. Using a manual tortilla press, a rolling pin or the heel of your hand, press each dough ball into a circle about 6 inches in diameter. Mound 2 tablespoons of the filling in the center of each round and fold over to form a half-moon shape. Use a dinner fork to crimp the outer edge. Alternatively, use a plastic empanada press from a Latin market.
To cook the empanadas, heat the vegetable oil to 350 degrees in a stockpot, using a candy or deep-fry thermometer to monitor the temperature. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Fry the empanadas in batches until golden brown and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes each, turning once in the oil. Drain them on the baking sheet. Season to taste with salt before serving with aji.
Recipe from The Latin Road Home by Jose Garces. Copyright 2012 by Jose Garces. Excerpted by permission of Lake Isle Press.
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