Black Bean Empanadas — Melinda Lamarche

I have always wanted to make vegetarian empanadas but I was always worried that they would be too time consuming and extra time is not something I have a lot of. But after seeing empanadas being made on a cooking show my kids were watching, I decided it was time to try it out. All the components come tighter pretty quickly, the assembly is what took the longest, that and the fact that I made two fillings, one with black beans and one with beef. The results were delicious and everyone asked for seconds … and thirds! I served them with salsa, guacamole and sour cream with corn and a plate of raw veggies on the side. I will definitely be making these again. I think the trick will be to prepare most of the ingredients ahead of time so that assembly is the only thing left to do before baking.

Black Bean Empanadas

Makes 12 empanadas

Filling

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 pkg of mushrooms, finely chopped

2 cans black beans, rinsed and drained

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp oregano

salt and pepper to taste

1 small sweet potato, small cube

1 small Yukon gold potato, small cube

Pastry

1.5 cups whole wheat flour

1.5 cups white flour

1/2 cup cold butter

3/4 cup cold water

1 egg

salt

Directions for pastry:

Pour whole wheat and white flour into a large bowl, add salt, cut butter into cubes and add to the bowl.
Cut in the butter using 2 knives or a pastry cutter until it is completely worked into the flour and makes a sandy texture
Slowly add water and bring flour together to form a dough, knead lightly, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour

Directions for filling:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees celsius
Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat, sauté onion until translucent, then add garlic and mushrooms. Sauté until liquid from mushrooms has evaporated.
While mushrooms are cooking, boil potatoes until tender, drain and set aside
Add black beans, tomato paste and spices to pan with mushrooms. Stir to combine. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes, you may need to add up to 1/4 cup of water to keep mixture from drying out
Add potatoes to bean mixture, stir to combine well and set aside to cool
Roll out pastry dough to 1/4” thickness, then using a large cookie cutter or small bowl, cut out 12 circles. Place 2-3 tbsp of the bean mixture onto one side of the pastry, fold over and crimp the edges to prevent the filling from spilling out
Brush with egg wash and bake for 40 minutes at 400 degrees.