Daily Dinner: Wannabe Southwestern Chicken Empanadas (But Really Just Kind-of Chicken Pot Pies)

Boyfriend and I have decided to try to eat at home more often. When I was at school three nights a week, it became really easy just to go out to eat every night (Chili's Happy Hour!), but now we're trying to cut back and get back to eating at home. It's cheaper, and to be honest, we like it better. (Except for the dishes. Why would I want to do dishes?) Since the beginning of the year, we've tried to reduce the amount of red meat in our diets, so we eat a lot of chicken.

So tonight for dinner, I decided to try at "What can I make from items in my pantry" exercise. I was kind of feeling some Southwestern-style chicken dish, so I settled on a sort of empanada. I already had the chicken, the puff pastry, the cheese, and all the ingredients for a Béchamel (white) sauce. I was going to add some black beans and corn to the filling, but decided to forgo the beans, and honestly, just forgot about the corn.

I thought these little wannabe-empanadas were pretty tasty, but could have used a lot more flavoring, a.k.a. spices. I went easy on the spices to start, because Boyfriend and I don't like overly spicy things. In the end, the wannabes reminded me more of just a miniature chicken pot pie than they did empanadas. The good news is that this means the recipe is easily adaptable to whatever flavors you're craving.

Regarding the recipe, measurements are approximate. I don't think I've ever measured my cream or milk for a Béchamel sauce, so I'm not going to be much help in that department. I used 2 sheets of puff pastry, so essentially doubled this recipe; the ingredients and measurements I'm listing are approximate, as I'm trying to halve the recipe.

Ingredients

1 sheet of puff pastry

1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp all-purpose flour

heavy cream or milk (at least 2%)

1/8 tsp chili powder

1/8 tsp ground coriander

1/4 - 1/2 pre-packaged nacho/taco cheese mix

Kosher salt

Directions

1. Fill a saute pan with a couple of inches of water. Salt the water, and bring to a boil. Add the chicken breast and cover the pan. Reduce heat to medium-high, and let cook for approximately 7-10 minutes. (This will cook the chicken and keep it nice and juicy.)

2. While the chicken is cooking, make the Béchamel sauce. Melt butter over medium heat and then whisk in flour until fully incorporated. Add heavy cream or milk (start small - 1/2 cup to start, then add more as you go), and continue to stir until sauce has thickened. Sauce should be thicker, but not really thick or heavy. Whisk in chili powder over the heat.

3. Using 2 forks, shred the chicken and place in small bowl. Sprinkle kosher salt and coriander over chicken and stir.

4. Pour Béchamel sauce over the chicken and stir. You want the chicken to be lightly coated, not drenched in sauce. Add cheese to bowl and stir. Set aside.

5. Roll out puff pastry to 12" x 12" square. Cut square into either 9 or 6 squares, depending on how full you want the little pies to be. Place equal amount in the center of each square.

6. Seal each square into a triangle. You can wet your fingertip and run it along the edge of the square to help seal the pies. Use a fork to crimp the edges. I would also recommend using a knife to cut a small slit in the top of each pie to allow steam to escape during baking.

7. Bake pies on aluminum foil-lined baking sheet for 15 minutes at 400 degrees F, or until golden brown on top.

If you want more flavor, I would definitely increase the spices, or add some stronger ones. In addition, for a more southwestern flavor, I might add in some tomato paste or chipotle peppers to the Béchamel sauce. You could also try the following variations:

• Italian - crushed tomatos, basil, oregano, Parmesan cheese
• Asian - soy sauce, sesame oil, ginger, shredded veggies
• Other - caramelized onions, thyme, Cheddar cheese

Daily Dinner: Pizza Bianca with Tomatoes, Mozzarella, and Basil

I love watching cooking shows.  One of my favorites is "America's Test Kitchen", which airs on my local PBS station.  I love this show, because they frequently take "tried and true" recipes and redo them to make them better (at least in their eyes).  Invariably, I want to make and eat whatever they are making...and right away, too.  The other day I was watching the show while folding clothes and straightening up the bedroom, and they made pizza bianca, with the goal of having a thicker, chewy inside, with a slightly crunchy crust.

The dough for the pizza is really easy to make - it requires no kneading, but does require a mixer, either a stand or handheld, and a dough hook/attachment.  It is an extremely wet dough, and requires a couple of hours of rising time.  The "standard" topping for pizza bianca is just salt, olive oil, and fresh rosemary.  I was looking for a more substantial meal, so I went with the tomato and mozzarella topping, and added basil.

Ingredients

For the pizza

3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (15 ounces)

1 2/3 cups water (13 1/2 ounces), room temperature

1 1/4 teaspoons table salt 

1 1/2 teaspoons instant yeast 

1 1/4 teaspoons sugar 

5 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil 

Tomato, Mozzarella, and Basil Topping

1 (28-ounce) can crushed tomatoes 

1 tablespoon olive oil 

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt 

1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (6 ounces)

Several basil leaves

Directions

1.  Mix the flour, water, and table salt in a mixing bowl.  If you are using a stand mixer, mix them in the mixer bowl.  ATK also recommends putting a towel or something other liner underneath the stand mixer to prevent wobbling.  I would recommend that you measure out the ingredients by weight, rather than cup or ounce.  Mix the flour, water, and salt with the dough hook on low speed.  Mix until no dry flour remains - you will need to scrape the sides and especially the bottom of the bowl frequently to accomplish this.  The recipe says that this will take 3-4 minutes, but this easily took me 10 minutes.  Let the dough rest in the mixer bowl for 20 minutes.

2.  Sprinkle the instant yeast and sugar over the dough.  Do not use active dry yeast (found in the little packets).  Mix the dough on low speed for about 1-2 minutes, continually scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Increase the speed to high, and knead until dough is glossy and smooth, and pulls away from the sides of the bowl.  The recipe calls for 6-10 minutes, but this took me at least 15 minutes.  The pulling away from the side will be very subtle, and the dough will fall back to the sides when the mixer is off.

3.  Use your fingers to coat a large bowl (a clear one works best) with olive oil.  The recipe calls from 1 Tbsp, but I think 1 tsp would suffice.  Rub the extra oil from your fingers onto a rubber spatula, and then use the spatula to transfer the pizza dough to the bowl.  Add another teaspoon (1 Tbsp according to the recipe) to the top of the dough, and flip the dough over.  Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise at room temperature until nearly tripled in volume, and large bubbles have formed.  This will take approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

4.  One hour before you want to start baking the pizza, move the oven rack to the middle, and place a pizza stone on the rack.  Begin preheating the oven to 450 degrees F.

5.  About 30 minutes before you want to start baking, place the can of crushed tomatoes into a fine-mesh strainer, and set the strainer over a medium bowl.  Let the tomatoes sit for 30 minutes, stirring a few times to help drain the juice.  Combine 3/4 cup of the drained tomatoes with 1 Tbsp of olive oil, and 1/8 tsp of kosher salt.  Here again, I think you can cut back on the oil to maybe 1-2 tsps.

6.  Prepare the other topping ingredients: shred the mozzarella if using fresh mozzarella, and chiffonade the basil.  I recommend fresh mozzarella to pre-packaged, and briefly freezing the mozzarella will help with the shredding.  To chiffonade the basil: wrap several leaves tightly into a "cigar", and then cut the roll iacross in thin strips.

7.  Once the dough has finished rising, coat a rimmed baking sheet with approximately 1 Tbsp of oil (the recipe calls for 2 Tbsps).  Use a rubber spatula to turn the risen dough onto the baking sheet.  Use your fingertips to press the dought out towards the edges of the pan.  Be careful not to ear it.  (Note from ATK: Dought will not fit snugly into corners.  If dough resists stretching, let it relax for 5 to 10 minutes before trying to stretch again).

8.  Let the dough rest in the pan for about 5 to 10 minutes, until it is slightly bubbly.  I didn't notice any huge difference in bubbliness after I let it rest in the pan.  Use a fork to dock the dough about 30 to 40 times, and sprinkle the top with kosher salt.  I used a plastic fork so as not to scratch my pan, and I forgot the kosher salt, and everything turned out okay.

9.  Put the pan on top of the pizza stone, and bake until the top is "spotty brown", about 15 to 17 minutes.  Mine was not really spotty brown - I just baked it until the edges started to brown.  Rotate the sheet halfway through baking.

10.  Remove the pizza from the oven, and spread the tomato mixture evenly over the surface.  I didn't use all of mine - it is important to spread it lightly than use it all up.  Sprinkle the shredded mozzarella evenly over the top of the tomato mixture, and then sprinkle the basil chiffonade evenly over the cheese. 

11.  Put the pizza back into the oven, and continue to bake until the cheese begins to brown.  The recipe says 5 to 10 minutes, but I didn't bother to time this - I just kept an eye on the cheese, and took it out when I was happy with the way it looked.  You may prefer a more or less melted cheese, so change this time to your liking.

This pizza was pretty good, but I thought it was a bit too oily (hence all of the oil reductions).  I think the crust is really good - nice and chewy on the inside, but also very light.  The crisp top and bottom is a really nice complement to the inside.