Another weekend, another attempt at a new recipe. I didn't get around to making a breakfast recipe and only did a dinner one, so I'm a bit behind. But I'll figure it out!
Broccoli, Egg and Cheddar Empanadas
Of course Rony picks another Egg recipe. Because freaking eggs. And this one requires me to make my own dough.
I fee like I jumped from Easy Mode to Advance.
First off: the dough. I mixed flour, corn meal, salt, pepper, and cold butter all together with my hands to make a kind of bread crumb consistency. I kind of goofed. I was suppose to put the butter in the freezer and then grate it into the flour but I guess I didn't leave it in the freezer long enough. The butter was still soft and I "grated" it with a fork and hoped for the best. I also wasn't sure if I used enough butter?? I had Rony add a bit more in case. It wasn't crumbling how it should have but I think it came out okay.
Next I made a little whole in the middle and cracked an egg and poured in cold water before mixing it all with my hands. Again, not sure if I added enough water because it was still dry and crumbly so I added another tablespoon in.
Dough is hard, guys.
Leon was waiting for me to drop something for him to eat.
After I got the dough mixed and semi-smooth (at least holding together), I left it in the bowl and covered it with a moist towel. It didn't say how long to leave it covered, only to move on to making the filling.
I had to steam 4 cups of broccoli (is there ever an accurate way to get 4 whole cups of broccoli? You can't really pack it into a cup) and mix 8 eggs with salt, pepper, garlic, and chili flakes. I added only a TINY bit of chili flakes because again, I get sick if I eat spicy stuff.
So far so good.
After the broccoli was tender, I dumped all the eggs in and had to make scrambled eggs. I was so freaking paranoid that I was going to mess this up. I am cursed when it comes to eggs. I overcook or undercook them and it's a disaster.
I mixed constantly because I was afraid it'd stick to the pan or burn. But I have to say, I don't think I messed this part up! I know! I didn't mess up the eggs!
I added a ton of cheese once the egg wasn't goopy and mixed it in to create this awesome cheesy mess and set it aside to go back to the dough.
Rony laughed at me when I bought my tiny rolling pin at Daiso but that shit works! No paper towel roll for me this time! I cut the dough into 12 pieces, and rolled each into a ball. Then I rolled out each ball for form little thin tortillas. The recipe said about coaster size but there was no way I was going to get all the filling in with that size. So mine were definitely like small tortillas.
Once they were rolled out, I scooped some egg/broccoli filling in and folded over the dough to make little hand pie looking things. I had to pinch the edges together and they ended up about palm sized. They were pretty big!
It took a while to get them all filled and folded and onto the baking sheet but once they were done, they looked pretty good! The recipe said doing an egg wash was mostly cosmetic and optional, but shit, I was already there. You bet your ass I'm egg washing that shit. Plus I had gotten a pastry brush forever ago and hadn't gotten the chance to use it.
Also, I don't have two baking sheets. I thought I did, but I don't. So I had to use a pizza pan which worked about the same. You use what you got.
I popped those bad boys into the oven for 20 minutes and cleaned up. I was hungry, this had taken like 2 hours, and I swear to god if these didn't taste good (I'm looking at you, polenta) I was going to throw a fit.
Look at that shit. LOOK AT IT.
I made that shit with my hands!
And yeah, the egg wash doesn't cover them completely but whatever! They look freaking good!
The recipe shows some sort of dipping sauce but never says what it is (what the hell, recipe book) but I'm pretty sure it's salsa....which we don't have. So I used marinara sauce because that sounded good.
The Rony review?
"Craftsmanship is a 9. Still hot and not falling apart. Flavor is pretty watered down and could use more but I don't mind. It's a muted flavor. It's pretty great. I give it a 8!"
Probably needed more cheese. Everything is better with cheese.
Two pretty much filled us up so now we have leftovers for a few days. I am fairly impressed with myself! I can make dough and cook an egg thing and not mess up!
Let's hope I can keep the momentum going!
-Sam <3