Festive Empanaditas.

Let’s face it it’s Christmas Day or New Year’s Eve and we found ourselves with twenty million things still left to do and some of us with people to entertain! I want to share with you some of my go to recipes during the holidays, recipes that can be prepared in advance or just put together in no time, we all need the help we can and if I could wish something for you this year is a Christmas with a little less stress and a bit more enjoyment, because you deserve to enjoy this day too.

With that said this first recipe can be useful as an appetiser or canapé during any holiday party, I suggest three things when making this recipe:

1- Buy ready made short crust pastry , (your guests will still enjoy these empanaditas and they won’t even notice you haven’t made it from scratch , saving you valuable time for things like a glass of bubbly or nice face mask before everyone arrives).

2-Make them ahead of time, night before Christmas would do. Place them over lined baking tray and cover them with cling film, freeze them and defrost at least 1 hour before putting them in the oven .

3-Spend money on a good quality brie: one of the things that I truly believe is that good ingredients make modest things taste like a million bucks. So visit you local cheesemonger and perhaps go for something made locally and brie like, or just buy a good brie, you can equally go for goat’s cheese if you prefer it.

Makes about 40 empanaditas.

Ingredients.

2 sheets of ready made short crust pastry.

400 grams of brie.

Handful of rosemary sprigs.

Egg wash ( 1 egg plus 1 tbsp milk whisk together with a bit of salt).

Filling Ingredients:

Butternut Squash Filling.

1 small butternut squash.

2 sprigs of rosemary.

1 tbsp of olive oil.

1 tbsp butter.

Maldon salt and black pepper to season.

Caramelised Spicy Onions.

1 1/2 white onion.

1 1/12 tbsp of olive oil, (for cooking).

1 tsp mustard seeds

1 tsp ground pasilla.

1 tsp ground guajillo chilli.

1 tbsp of organic clear honey.

2 tsp maldon salt, and black coarse pepper to taste.

A 6 cm cookie cutter, (the perfect bite size).

Alternatively you cause the rim of a glass the measures 6 cm in diameter.

Method.

Preheat oven at 200 C.

Cut your butternut squash in half, cut the ends and remove the seeds with a spoon, place both pieces on a baking dish, add a drizzle of olive oil, a pinch of maldon salt and two rosemary sprigs, bake until the flesh turns soft for about 30 min depending on your oven.

Remove your squash from the oven and let it cool down a bit, you may get rid of the skin and scrape the cooked and soft veg flesh into a bowl, add the melted butter and season with a bit of salt and black pepper, mix into a rustic mash, set aside.

In a medium size pan heat up olive oil and then add your sliced onions fry them over a low heat and or until they get brown in colour, until then I add the dry ingredients and stir to combine the mixture , at the end add the honey let it bubble for a few seconds over the onions and remove from the heat, transfer them into a food processor and whizz up until you get a onion paste (as seen in the picture below).

Get your pastry sheets out of the fridge add a bit of flour into your kitchen counter, place the pastry over it and stretch the pastry a little with the help of a rolling pin.

Cut circles with your cookie cutter, remove the remaining pastry and fold into a square cover with cling film and place it in the fridge while you make the first batch of empanadas.

With the help of a tea spoon add a bit of the squash mash into all of your pastry circles, top it with caramelised onion paste, a bit of the soft brie without the rind and finish them with a little sprig of rosemary on top, rosemary to me is what make these beauties taste Christmassy.

Then brush the edges of all your circles with an egg wash, fold over in half and press the edges to seal your pastries, as seen in the picture below, place over a lined baking tray, repeat the same procedure with the rest of your pastry circles, brush them all with and egg wash and bake at 180 C until golden and lovely.

Serve warm.

Tip: You can reuse the paper where your pastry comes wrapped in and use it instead of parchment paper to line your baking trays.