Being a guy my husband is a big fan of meat, and meat wrapped in puff pastry is even better. One of the things he really likes is my bastardized version of empanadas. Why bastardized you ask? Because they're wrapped in puff pastry instead of actual empanada dough. I like to think of them as my France meets Central America fusion spin on the classic, or at least that's what I like to tell myself.As you can see above the filling is very simple and man friendly. It's basically
- Four browned italian sausages
- Two hard-boiled eggs
- Half a caramelized onion
- Minced garlic
- Chopped green olives
- Salt, pepper and paprika
The filling is mixed together and then deposited onto the puff pastry to make little parcels. I have to admit, as much as I love baking I loathe, detest and abhor cleaning the mess that it makes. I always manage to get flour all over the floor and since I have a small counter I am always running out of room. If I ever win the lottery, I am running out and buying a house with a bigger kitchen.
The pastries are then brushed with an egg wash and put in the over for half an hour at 350 Fahrenheit. Oooh ahhh, delicious bundles of flaky goodness. I wish I were industrious enough to make them into pretty little round pastries but I just can't be bothered and I hate to waste the scraps of dough that are left over when you cut out circles.
And here are the final results awaiting my hungry husband on his plate. I instructed him to cut his empanada in a neat manner because I wanted to photograph it. This of course got me the "my wife is weird sometimes" look but he held off taking a bite long enough so that I could get photographic evidence of his meal.
