Shrimp Empanadas

Empanadas are a type of hand pie or turnover. The filling can be either sweet or savory. The cooking methods vary too. You can fry them or bake them. Just like these delicious baked Shrimp Empanadas for today’s recipe. Empanadas originated in the ancient Greece. In their current form however, so popular in Latin America and Spain, they emerged in the latter. More specifically, Galicia, at the North of the country. From there, different variations of Empanadas throughout the Spanish-speaking world came to existence.

Thanks to what is called the “Columbian Exchange” the Old World discovered and benefited (and profited) from a vast panoply of plants and products from the New World. And vice versa! Thanks to this plant and product trasference, wheat was introduced to the Americas. And thus, every region under European dominion witnessed a kind of gastronomic syncretism. And let me tell you, everybody gained from that on both sides of the Atlantic.

I read once an amusing online debate. It was one of those grab-your-popcorn-and-sit-back kind of argument. Long story short, one guy from Spain was raving and ranting about a Mexican Picadillo Empanadas post, and “educating” the others over how empanadas are not Mexican. Anyway, the disputing raged on and on and let’s just say it outlived my bucket of popcorn. It was not my recipe and not my blog. Not my circus, not my monkeys. I did not take part on the debate either, because I am a lover and not a fighter (*chuckles).

The joke was on him. In the end someone mentioned that the good people of Spain would not have such a delightful and wide-ranging cuisine in present times were it not for the tomatoes, the cacao, the potatoes and the vanilla that this continent contributed to the world! And, I must add, as a “bonus” they got tobacco too. And man, many people in Spain love their smokes! I have never seen so many chain-smokers gathered in just one place, as I saw while visiting Madrid!

So, why fight if you can cook and enjoy? Just pick the best from here and there, the finest things of those two worlds that clashed so long ago, and make these exquisite Shrimp Empanadas without arguing. And if you love Empanadas, you’ll probably want to bookmark these Pumpkin Spice Empanadas to enjoy them in the Fall season.

Shrimp Empanadas

Yazzy

Print Recipe

Prep Time 25 minutes mins

Cook Time 25 minutes mins

Total Time 50 minutes mins

Course Main Course

Cuisine Fusion

Servings 10 Empanadas

Ingredients

  

• For the Empanada crust:
• 2.5 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp Kosher salt
• 2 sticks cold butter cut in small pieces
• 1 cup cold tap water
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1 cup ice cubes
• For the filling:
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 unit white onion chopped
• 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1.5 lbs. raw shrimp peeled and deveined
• 2 – 3 units large Roma tomatoes chopped
• 5 units garlic and Jalapeno stuffed-olives sliced (optional)
• 1 cube shrimp bouillon (or salt)
• freshly ground pepper
• For garnish:
• chopped cilantro
• sliced avocado
• your favorite Mexican bottled salsa, such as Cholula, Valentina or El Tapatio. if you don't have any of these, Tabasco sauce is fine.
• mayo optional

Instructions

 

• Make the crust dough: Mix well the flour and salt in a large bowl. In a large cup, mix the water, the vinegar and the ice cubes. Add the butter pieces to the flour mix and start coating them with the flour. With a pastry blender or a fork, cut the butter into the flour. Start adding the water/vinegar/ice mix into the flour a tablespoon at a time. You will not need to add all the liquid, but just enough to integrate all the ingredients and the dough comes together in a ball. It is okay if larger pieces of butter remain in the dough. Shape dough into a disk and refrigerate at least for 1 hour. You can make the dough the day before and refirgerate it overnight.
• Make the filling, while the dough chills: Heat up the olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onion and garlic and sautee them. Add the shimp. Stir often and cook for about 5 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, the sliced olives, if using, and the bouillon (or salt) and the freshly ground pepper. Cook for 5 more minutes, until shrimp is pink and thoroughly cooked. Turn off the heat and let the filling cool down. You can discard any liquid or save it and freeze it. It is great for seasoning seafood dishes.
• Preheat oven to 400 F.
• Take the dough out of the fridge. Shape it into a large cylinder and cut 10 equal 2.5 oz (or 70 gram) portions. Using a scale is very helpful in this case.
• Dust a clean working surface and your rolling pin with some flour. You can shape your empanadas however you wish. I chose an oblong shape, so I rolled each piece of dough to an 8" long oval. When you have shaped your oval or circle, top it with 1 – 1.5 tablespoon of cooked shrimp, fold it over, seal the edges first by slightly pressing down on them and crimp or flute the edge however you wish.
• Line a cookie baking sheet with parchment paper, carefully place your empanadas on it and bake until golden, 25 – 30 minutes.
• When ready to serve, carefully cut and remove the top of the Empanada, garnish with the chopped cilantro, sliced avocado, add some bottled salsa and mayo, if desired. Accompany with salad. Enjoy!