Sep 29, 2005

Chichen & Spinach Empanadas

Here's my latest creation for using up leftovers in the fridge. They turned out REALLY good! We had them for lunch but I think they would make a great light supper served with a tossed salad.

Chicken & Spinach Empanadas

For the pastry:

2. c. flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 c. margarine
1/2 c. milk
1 egg

For the filling

1 c. cooked shredded chicken
1/4 c. shredded cheese
1 can cream of chicken soup
1/2 pkg. frozen spinach, drained well
1 tsp. minced toasted onion
1 tsp. parsley
1/2 c. milk
1/4 tsp. pepper
1/2 tsp. salt

To make the pastry, combine flour, salt, baking powder in the food processor, pulse until well blended then set on low and add wet ingredients through chute. Allow to blend until dough clings to sides of bowl. Remove from bowl, form into a ball and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

To make the filling, combine soup, onion, parsley. milk, salt and pepper in a saucepan. Heat while whisking to break up lumps. When warmed through, stir in chicken and spinach.

Heat oven to 375 degrees. When pastry is chilled, roll out on a floured board. Cut out circles using a small bowl. Spoon about 3 Tbsp. of filling onto each circle. Wet edge of half the circle then fold other side over to form a turnover. pinch edges then crimp with a fork. Brush with beaten egg.

Bake for 15 - 20 minutes or until golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

6 comments:

Admin said...

Michele
Could you use a tortilla for the pastry?

Michele said...

I don't think it would work, you need to be able to crimp the edges together like you would a double pie crust and a tortilla just wouldn't stick together very well and the filling would leak out.

Anonymous said...

A tortilla would make a good Quesadilla from this filling. Pan brown the tortilla together after folding over filling mixture. Might require more cheese in mixture to help it stick together.

Michele said...

What a wonderful idea! I will be giving that one a try as well.

~~louise~~ said...

Hi Michele,
Hope you don't mind if I "borrow" your link. Your Chicken & Spinach Empanadas are just perfect for National Empanada Day (which is today:) They sound wonderful!

Inspector 12 said...

Hello Michele,

I followed your recipe to the letter and it worked out nicely.

I did overseason the first batch as I had forgotten that I was using pre-seasoned pieces of chicken( cut from a whole rotisserie chicken. To correct the problem, I crumbled some corn bread in the mix, hoping that the added bread with the sweet taste would offset the extra sodium in the batch. (For those who require low sodium foods, you may wish to skip adding the salt to the filling altogether as the cream of chicken soup and the cheese may provide all the sodium you need for flavor).