Mushroom and Cheese Empanadas

I have to admit I’m not very well versed into the world of empanadas. It’s not something I grew up eating (at home or in restaurants), but it’s something I always imagined.

The first time I made empanadas I used a recipe from El Farol: Tapas and Spanish Cuisine written by one of their former chef’s James Campbell Caruso. The filling was delicious. The flavor of the shell was equally as delicious, but was not flakey. The recipe calls for melted butter which is a clue that it won’t be flakey.

For several years I subbed in a flakey pie crust recipe, but added red chile into the dough. And then I dragged a friend and my sister down a wormhole filled with empanadas because what is the “right” texture of the dough.

Empanadas are stuffed bread or pastry that is baked or fried. From pouring over dozens of recipes, it’s clear that some empanadas are flakey and some are not. It appears the dough texture varies by region. Information on Spanish empanadas is sparse and content on regional empanadas of Spain is even sparser.

Now that I’m ok with empanadas not being flakey, and my trust is restored in James, I use his dough and filling recipe.

This recipe has a few modifications from James — they’re at the bottom of the recipe in notes in case you’re interested. Also in the notes are substitutions and tips on the order of attack.

Mushroom Filling Ingredients
48 ounces mushrooms
1/2 c olive oil
1 tsp of dried thyme
1/4 c garlic
2 Tbl sherry vinegar
1/2 c amontillado sherry
1.5 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 c crumbled Cabrales ( or other blue cheesed)

Filling Directions
Wash your mushrooms. When it’s this many, I plug my clean sink and cover them with water. If the water turns dirty right away, I will drain the sink and refill it. On the other side of the sink have a stream of water running and lightly rub each mushroom under the water stream. Lay the clean mushroom on a towel to dry.

Using medium heat, heat the oil in a 4 quart saute pan.

While the oil is heating, thinly slice a couple of handfuls of mushrooms. Have the pile of mushrooms on the board and press the knife down on them with the knife tip away from you. Rotate the knife 90 degrees and repeat.

I find if the sliced mushrooms on the chopping board are layered and closely packed, it makes the fine chopping easier. There is a point when there are too many mushrooms on the board at once so play around with the amounts.

Put that batch of mushrooms in the saute pan. You should hear a little sizzle. Repeat the steps until all of the mushrooms are in the pan. Give it a quick stir after each new addition.

Mince the garlic. Slice off the dried end off of a garlic clove. Lay your knife blade flat on the clove. Make a fist with your hand (pinky side down) and hit the knife to smash the garlic. Remove the skins then chop the clove finely.

After the mushrooms released their water (no longer spongey) and the liquid evaporated, add the thyme, garlic, vinegar, sherry, salt, and pepper.

Adjust the heat to make the contents simmer. After all of the liquid is evaporated, remove the pot from the heat. Taste and adjust salt. After contents cool slightly, stir in the cheese.

Dough Ingredients
1 c of unsalted butter
1.5 c all purpose flour
1.5 c whole wheat flour
2 c of masa harina
1 tsp red chile powder
2 tsp baking powder
1.5 tsp salt
1.25 c of water
1 large egg (for egg wash)

Dough Directions
Melt the butter.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Drizzle the melted butter over the dry ingredients and mix.

Make a well in the center of the dough and pour water in the well. Cup your hand and trace the exterior of the well to incorporate the dry ingredients with the water.

Keep mixing the dough until the mixture is homogeneous. Take a small piece of dough and try to stretch it a little. If it crumbles, add a little water (2 tsp at a time) and mix until it is no longer crumbles.

Form into a ball, cover tightly with Saran wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Assembly
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Put the cracked egg on a plate and whisk it with a fork until it’s lighter in color and the yolk and white are one.

Take a hunk of dough (I like to start with a about 1/4 of the dough) and roll it to 1/8” thick. I like to pat the dough into a round disc then roll the dough from the center out. Your dough shouldn’t stick, but if it does, sprinkle a little flour on the surface that the dough rests on and on top of the dough.

Cut the dough into 4” circles. If you have a cookie cutter that size, great. I don’t so find something that is 4” in diameter (I found a mug that is the correct size — you can even cut a piece of parchment out using a protractor). Then take a really sharp tip of a paring knife and trace the circle to cut out the dough.

Remove the non-circles of the dough — so you’ll just have circles on the counter. Gently pick up each circle and lay it back down. This will loosen the circle and make the empanada easier to retain its shape.

Put 1 Tbl of filling in the center of each circle. I don’t typically measure stuff, but I do for this. It’s the perfect amount to fill a 4” circle — too much filling will be hard to incase without leakage and too little filling will leave you with a doughy and flat empanada.

For next few steps, I work with one empanada at a time.

Dip your finger into the egg and trace the outer rim of the circle with it. Gentle push the filling with your finger to get it in more of a log shape (it doesn’t need to be perfect — it just helps make the folding easier. Take one side of the circle and fold it over the filling (makes a semicircle) and press the edges down to seal them.

You can take the tines of a fork and press down on the round edge or you can twist the edge. I like to twist the edge. I pick up the empanada in my hand, I will give the edges one more quick squeeze to seal them, then I twist a small corner of the dough over. I hold the empanada in my right hand, put my thumb of my left hand under the corner and my pointer and middle finger on top, gently hold the dough between your fingers and rotate your wrist so your thumb is now on top. Take the adjoining edge and repeat.

Put the empanada down and repeat with the next one.

If the dough gets too soft and doesn’t hold its shape well, pop it back in the fridge. If the dough gets really hard to roll, let it warm up a little bit.

Put a cooling rack on top of a sheet pan and grease the rack. Dip your finger in the egg and brush all sides of the empanada and place it on the sheet pan. Bake for 12 - 16 minutes. The empanada will have a little color and will feel solid, but will break under too much pressure.

Allow the empanadas to cool about 5 minutes then remove them from the rack. Be gentle, because if they stuck to the rack, you’ll break them. If they stick, take your finger under the rack and put upward pressure on the bottom of the empanada.

You can eat them hot or at room temperature. Cooked empanadas freeze really well, but I would let them come to room temperature then heat them in the oven.

Notes
I begin by making the filling. While the moisture is cooking out of the mushrooms, I prepare the dough.

Masa harina is finely ground cornmeal. You can use corn flour. If you don’t have either on hand, use regular corn meal. There’s no need to buy something you’ll only use for this recipe.

If you don’t have sherry, use brandy, or even chicken broth.

Use whatever vinegar (exception white vinegar) you have on hand. If you don’t have vinegar, use lemon juice.

The original recipe uses portabello mushrooms. The strength of a portabello is its size and in this application, the size doesn’t matter. I go with the cheaper option of crimini mushrooms. Flavor is not compromised. BTW, portabello mushrooms are mature crimini. Crimini mushrooms are also labeled as baby bella or baby portabello.

The original dough recipe does not use whole wheat flour. You can use all all-purpose but you might want to reduce the water a little.

The dough recipe also calls for paprika. Flavorful paprika is hard to find so I use red chile.

There’s an old wives tale that you shouldn’t wash mushrooms because they absorb water which leads to inferior cooking. They say to clean the mushrooms using a wet sponge or wet paper towel. Hey good news! Kenji Lopez-Alt debunked this myth so please wash your shrooms!