Chicken Empanadas with Green Chili Sauce

A mixture of chicken, golden raisins, olives, ground peanuts, cheese, spices and tomato juice is spooned onto puff pastry squares, folded into triangles, and baked.

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Ingredients:

• For green chili sauce:
• 1 large ripe California avocado, peeled, stoned and chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, stemmed and chopped
• 1/3 cup chopped cilantro
• 3 green onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp each of salt and white pepper
• For filling:
• 1 tbsp peanut oil
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup spicy tomato juice (Clamato)
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tbsp golden raisins
• 1/2 cup pimento-stuffed olives, sliced
• 1/2 cup ground salted peanuts
• 1/2 cup grated queso fresco cheese
• 1 (17.3 ounces) box frozen puff pastry sheets (2 sheets) thawed (such as Pepperidge Farms)
• 1 tbsp water
• 2 egg whites, beaten
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika

Method

Place ingredients for green chili sauce in bowl of food processor. Pulse a few times to puree ingredients. Transfer to serving bowl, cover and refrigerate. For filling, heat peanut oil in skillet and saute shallots and garlic for 2 minutes. Add the chicken and cook and stir until browned. Add tomato juice, cumin, cinnamon, raisins and olives to skillet. Cook and stir until liquid has been greatly absorbed; remove skillet from stove and stir in ground peanuts and queso fresco. Let cool. Roll 1 sheet of puff pastry out on a lightly floured surface to thickness of about 1/8-inch. Cut and trim into nine, 3-inch squares. Repeat rolling and cutting with second puff pastry sheet. Spoon 1 heaping tbsp of the chicken mixture on each square, fold in half to make a triangle, dip a fork in the water and press seams of each triangle to completely seal and place on baking sheet. Repeat process to make 18 triangles. Brush tops with egg white and sprinkle sweet paprika on top. Place baking sheet of empanadas in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes. In the meantime preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place baking sheet with empanadas in oven and bake for 15 minutes. Let cool a couple of minutes before transferring to serving dish with green chili sauce.

Notes: Puff Pastry needs to be cool enough to work with when you are making the empanadas. But you want the dough to be thoroughly chilled before placing in oven to bake. Then you will see the dough work to its full potential!

Number of servings: 6

Submitted By: gr8folks501311
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