madbaker | The Grill from Empanada

This week's Resolution Recipe: Herb and Cheese Empanadas.

Crust:
2 1/4 c flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 c water
1/4 c olive oil
1 T red wine vinegar

Combine the flour with salt and mix well. Add water, olive oil, and vinegar and mix well. The dough should be a little sticky. Knead on a lightly floured board until the dough is silky smooth, then allow to chill in the fridge for an hour or overnight.

Filling:
1 large bunch spigariello or other greens, chopped
1 bunch scallions, sliced thinly (I used green garlic)
1 bunch dill, chopped
1 bunch mint, chopped
8 sprigs oregano, chopped
4 oz feta, crumbled
a few Tbsp Parmesan
1 egg
rapeseed oil

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan and add the scallions. Cook just until soft, a couple of minutes, then add the spigariello. Wilt for 5-8 minutes. Add the herbs at the last minute, then transfer everything to a colander and cool.

Squeeze the cooked greens to extract most of the water. Combine with feta and Parmesan then mix in the egg. Season with salt and pepper.

Quarter the dough and roll each piece out into a very thin disk, about 8" diameter. Fill each round with a quarter of the greens filling and fold the dough over into half moons. Crimp the edges to seal.

In a very large skillet heat the oil until very hot, then add 1-2 pies depending on pan size (you don't want to crowd them). Pan-fry in the hot oil until deeply colored, flip, and fry the other side ditto. Serve warm.

What worked: These were easier than it reads. The dough wasn't flaky, of course, but it wasn't tough at all as I expected it might be.
It used up a fair amount of greens from our veg box and was reasonably tasty. I only ate one of mine for dinner and the second one was actually better when reheated in the toaster oven the next day.

What didn't: Not enough filling. It's hard to judge just how much greens will cook down even when you know the answer is "a lot".

Will I make it again? I might. I tried these with a period pie recipe for an event, even though this isn't necessarily a period treatment. It worked very well.