Sweet Potato & Poblano Empanadas

Directions

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1. To the bowl of a food processor or to a mixing bowl, add the all-purpose flour, masa harina, salt, and seasoning. Drop in the cubed butter and the egg and pulse or cut it in with your fingers or a pastry cutter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Drizzle in the cold water now; continue to pulse in the processor or mix with a fork until a rough dough forms. Transfer dough to your work surface and knead a few times. Wrap the dough with plastic and let it chill in your fridge for at least 3 hours and up to 12 hours (the longer, the better).

2. After your dough is done chilling, remove it from the fridge and set it on your counter to soften a bit. If the dough was chilling for 3 hours, it should be ready to divide and roll out in about 30 minutes; if it was chilling for longer, the dough will need to sit out for a couple of hours before it’s ready to be divided into portions and rolled out. This is to prevent the dough from cracking.

3. Prepare your filling as the dough sits out on your counter. Let the filling cool to the touch before using it in the empanada.

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1. Preheat your oven 400°F.

2. Roast the poblano peppers on a baking sheet for 6-8 minutes on each side, or until the skin is evenly charred and blistered.

3. Transfer the roasted poblano peppers to a Ziploc bag and allow them to sweat.

4. After 10-15 minutes, remove the peppers from the Ziploc bag, peel off the skin, remove the seeds, then dice them.

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1. Heat oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat.

2. Add the garlic, sweet potatoes, salt, and paprika. Cook for 5 minutes or until the sweet potatoes start to soften. Then add the onions. Don’t stir too frequently, just enough to prevent the potatoes from sticking — we’re looking to get some color on them.

3. Toss in the poblanos and continue cooking until the sweet potatoes turn golden brown or become fork-tender.

4. Remove the skillet from heat and allow the mixture to cool.

5. Once the filling has cooled, mix in the Oaxaca cheese.

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1. Once the dough has softened, it’s ready to roll. Divide the dough into 8 pieces that weigh about 70 grams each. Dust your work surface and rolling pin with a little flour. Take one 70-gram piece of dough and roll it out to a roughly 7-inch round. It’s fine if it’s not a perfect circle since you’ll be cutting out a smaller circle from the dough! It’s more important to roll the dough thin.

2. Flip a 6-inch round plate over the rolled out portion of dough so the lip edge is touching the dough, then trace the edges of the plate with a paring or butter knife. Lift the plate, then peel away the excess dough to reveal a 6-inch empanada round. (If you don’t have a 6-inch plate, you can use any round food-safe item in your kitchen that comes in at around 6-inches in diameter, such as a cake pan or cookie cutter.) You may have enough dough scraps left over from this first round to form 1-2 additional empanadas.

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1. Spoon 2 heaping tablespoons of your cooled, prepared filling onto one side of the empanada round, making sure to leave a border to seal the empanada. Moisten the edge of the empanada dough closest to you with a little water, just using your finger. Gently fold the side of the dough furthest from you up and over the filling now. Seal the empanada with your fingers by pressing the two edges together firmly.

2. Dab a bit of water again along the border to help seal it further. Use a fork to crimp the edges closed.

3. Repeat the process with the remaining dough. Set each empanada on a dinner plate as you assemble them. It’s fine if they overlap or if you have to stack them on top of one another.

4. Cover the plate of empanadas with plastic wrap and transfer to your fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes or up to two days.

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1. When ready to bake, set your oven to 400F. Place 4 empanadas on a large baking sheet, then brush each with an egg wash and bake for 30 minutes, or until the undersides of each are nicely browned. Move to a cooling rack once finished baking, then repeat with the remaining empanadas. Serve empanadas immediately with salsa, salsa macha, or your garnish of choice.