I’m participating in a meat pie cook off this coming weekend and am thinking of making pollo a la brasa stuffed hand pies (easier to dip in the white and green sauces and good presentation instead of a slice or scoop of a larger pie.) I’ll marinate the chicken Friday and grill the chicken Saturday morning, then make the filling and assemble, cook just prior to leaving.
An empanada dough seems like the best fit to me instead of a traditional American pie dough. Baked since I’ll have to drive 30-40 minutes with them and know fried just wouldn’t hold up as well.
Does anyone have a tried and true Empanada dough recipe and have any tips or tricks for both making and transporting? It’s all just for fun but it’s my first year participating and want to make a good show of it.
The few times I’ve made them I’ve used commercial puff pastry, which makes them quite special. Good warm or even room temperature. I do use an egg wash and crimp them very well with a fork so they can survive the baking process without splitting open. Good luck! I will say people LOVE them and they disappear fast. I just used a Piccadillo filling.
Sounds yummy but store bought crusts aren’t allowed- I don’t think I have time (or to be honest… the patience,) to do puff pastry from scratch this week!!! I do love picadillo but there are quite a few participants so I need something unexpected!
I like browsing Epicurious. I like the fact that the recipes have ratings. I also carefully read the notes left by other cooks, to see what tweaks they think are necessary. If enough people pile on, I’ll use there tweak and I’m generally happy with the result.
Good luck in the contest. Take some photos, and let us know how it turns out!
re transport, I’ve been successful transporting hot foods to an event by heating bricks in the oven, then wrapping them in toweling and placing in the bottom of an ice chest, making a bed for your wrapped hot food.
We didn’t love them baked so this pan of them will be fried- then we have to decide and do it- we’re supposed to be there in 3 1/2 hours with ready to eat food and not be covered in flour!
The filling is awesome, though- totally nailed it.
I used j89k’s link to Epicurious in the end. It was easy to handle and fried up nicely.
I didn’t win but ours was the only platter empty at the end of the night (and I made A LOT of them! ) so they were clearly liked by several people. Some had never had Peruvian food and liked the flavors (the sauces were a hit,) so that was cool. It’s not a super foodie crowd- hot rods, kustom kulture, racing and vintage houses/clothing/housewares are what ties us all together.
It was a lot of fun- looking for the next get together there!
