A Bite of...: January 2012

Beetroot, potato and dill soup

Empanada assembly

Buffalo chicken filling

Beef and onion filling

Pretty pastry!

As lovely on the inside as on the outside

I had a marathon cooking evening last Sunday. After a morning spent gobbling shumai at Chinatown's Jade Garden celebrating the year of the dragon and an afternoon modelling for my friend's photo shoot* I needed a good ol' fashion hunkering down with my kitchen. I'd been whipping up bits and bobs over the past couple of weeks but I wanted to make some stuff that was not only tasty, but could fill the freezer with some goodies to tuck into after a long day. The following recipes were cranked out over what seemed like just a few hours...

Beetroot, potato and dill soup:

Now some of you know I'm obsessed with beetroot. Yes it's delicious, but more importantly the colour just makes me smile it's so dang pretty. Case in point, my favourite OPI nail colour - Miami Beet. I used some farmer's market beetroot to make a healthy, thick, and wonderfully flavourful soup.

1 small onion, diced

1 pound beetroot, peeled and cut unto medium sized pieces

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into medium sized pieces

1.25 litres chicken (or vegetable) stock (quantity will vary depending on how much veg you use)

4 tablespoons dill

salt and pepper

Non-fat greek yogurt for garnish (optional)

1. Sautee onions in 1 tbsp olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until light brown / golden

2. While onions are cooking roast beetroot in a 176C / 350F oven with 1 tbsp olive oil and 1/2 tsp salt - stir occasionally - about 30 minutes (they won't be fully roasted)

3. Add roasted beetroot, potato and stock to the onions, bring to boil and then lower heat, cover, and cook until all veggies are soft
4. Add dill

5. Transfer everything from pot to food processor and blend until smooth (it will still retain a distinct texture). At this point you may need to add a bit more stock to thin it out

6. Add a decent spattering of salt and pepper

7. Serve with a dollop of the greek yogurt swirled into the soup and sprinkle a wee bit of dill on top for garnish

Next up on the menu? Empanadas.

Now I have never in my life made empanadas. Nor have I ever really considered it. I'm not into Mexican food and so it was never something that interested me. The realisation that you don't need to necessarily fill it with traditional flavours somehow has always escaped me.

Now - to give you some context of where I was coming from....

Recently, for the NFL Playoffs and upcoming Superbowl I've been seeing "game day menus" splattered across all my favourite US based foodie websites and it got me thinking... I really wanted to make some buffalo wings. The recipes looked tasty and you just can't get good wings in London. Reason enough.

But then I thought, since I'm not actually throwing a party, and chicken wings are not the champions of the freezer - what else could I do? And that's when the light bulb went on - why not make some sort of buffalo chicken concoction and wrap it in some sort of delicious pastry, e.g. empanada dough?

After doing a bit of googling I knew I definitely didn't want to go the puff pastry route and instead went ahead with a dough that was a little bit of research, a spot of guesswork, and a whole lot of luck. It was, unequivocally - one of the best if not THE BEST (savoury) pastries I've ever made. Inside the dough I made 2 fillings. One, the inspirational buffalo chicken and the other beef and onion. I was in heaven, and still am - the recipe made me 20 empanadas. Even after eating them for three nights straight (and feeding a friend in the process) I still easily have a week's worth left. They should get me through to the Superbowl in fact. (GOOOOO PATS!)

Empanada dough:

4 cups flour

2 sticks (226 grams) butter

2 teaspoons salt

1/2 tablespoon cider vinegar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

3/4 cup ice water

I more or less followed this preparation from epicurious: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cafe-Azuls-Pastry-Dough-107241

Empanada filling 1, Buffalo Chicken:

3 chicken breasts cooked and shredded - I used the microwave (just call me lazy bones or smart)

4-6 green onions - white and pale green parts sliced thinly

1 bunch coriander

1/3 cup cream cheese

3 tablespoons hot sauce

1/3 cup blue cheese salad dressing

1/2 cup crumbled blue cheese

Easy peasy - just mix it all up in a bowl! And don't worry about the measurements. Fact is I'm not entirely sure how much of anything I used...trust your taste buds people.

Empanada filling 2, Beef and Onion:

2 large onions

5 cloves garlic

1/2 pound ground beef

Some sort of tasty / spicy sauce concoction you have in your fridge. I used: http://www.maryberry.co.uk/dr_productsdetail.asp?productID=9 but even BBQ would work

1. Saute onions and garlic until golden

2. Add beef and cook through

3. Add your choice of sauces, salt and pepper if required

4. Place it all in the food processor until big pieces of onion are smoothed out
5. When assembling you can throw in a few nuggets of delicious blue cheese (or some other kind) if you so fancy an extra pop of flavour

Once again - couldn't be easier! Of course with both fillings - empanada assembly required! Or not - both are yummy simply eaten with a spoon...

* My wonderful friend SA-L is in the process of creating a number of shots for her "fallen angels" shoot. Over coffee in December she said to me "Do you want to model for me..." YAY! I said. (I've seen what she can do with photos as she's a professional retoucher - HELLO photoshop GOODBYE under eye bags)! Only she hadn't quite finished yet.

"...as a tired secretary. I'll be putting you in some hideous suit and you need to look really sad." she continued.

HA! It was still brilliant fun! We were outside for a while in the cold so I'm fairly certain there are also a few images of "tired secretary blowing her nose." Totally the new facebook profile pic. Stay tuned. :-)

As 2011 closed off in the unseasonably mild New England, I squeezed in some of my favourite eats of all time. And when I say SQUEEZED, I mean that quite literally. I was into my elasticised reindeer flannel PJ bottoms the week before Christmas. I was a glutton. But you do know, gluttony is good. I think I may have single handedly pulled the US out from the economic crisis with my excessive mass consumption of alcohol, restaurant attendance, and general food consumption (the record was going to the grocery store 4 times in one day).