Chicken Empanadas

In these hard economic times, it's common for companies to scale back.  Perks get cut, the budget gets tighter, your favorite mechanical pencils are no longer "in policy" -  things just change.  One of the first things to go at my current company was free beverages.  When I started the fridge was stocked with pop, water and juice (the company name was also Lehman Brothers but that's a whole different story) but at the first sign of hard times the drinks got the boot.

My first holiday party was at a fancy restaurant that the company had rented out.  There were waiters walking around with cocktails and appetizers, a car service to take us to the event and then home at the end of the night, a lovely dinner, dancing.  It was top notch.  The next year - mid bankruptcy - they still managed to put together a little something.  We had a 3 hour all you can drink package at cactus, a bar down the street. Maybe not the classiest party in the companies history but not terrible.  Just when we thought we hit rock bottom we get the email for the 2009 "holiday party".  This year we were going to have an international potluck!  wait. we have to bring our own food to our holiday party?  Needless to say people weren't chomping at the bit to whip up their favorite ethnic side dish.  HR thought they'd try to up the ante so they sent a 2nd email telling us that not only will we have an international potluck but people will get to vote for their favorite in each course.  Awesome.  What's that?  do the winners get prizes - nope, just kudos to you if you get voted best dish. 

I decided to join in the fun because it was expected of me i'm a good corporate citizen.  I don't really have any sort of exciting ethnic background...my parent's aren't even sure of our nationality.  Whenever I would ask my dad what we were he would always say "heinz 57 - a little bit of everything".  Great. Thanks dad.  That helps. 

After searching for hours for something that seemed fail proof and delicious I decided on Chicken Empanadas.  Who doesn's love an empanada?  hot chicken and cheese in a wonderful crust - my mouth waters just thinking about it. 

I found a fairly simple recipe on Cooksrecipes.com.  I doubled the recipe and it made about 35 empanadas.

Ingredients
Baked Pastry:
2 frozen pie shells, thawed
3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons coarse (kosher) salt
1 tablespoon dark chili powder

Filling:
1/2 cup monterey jack cheese, grated
1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated
1 cup cooked shredded chicken
1 jalapeno pepper, diced
1/2 tablespoon minced garlic
1 tablespoon minced red onion
1/2 teaspoon cumin, ground
1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl mix together all ingredeints for filling and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

On a floured surface, roll out pie shells and cut into 4-inch circles (i used the top of a glass to cut the dough).  Use all of the pie dough by re-rolling the scraps.

Place approzimately 2 tablespoons (I could only fit 1 - but my circles were a little smaller than 4") of empanada filling in center of dough circles.  Fold each circle in half and crimp edges with a fork.

Place on a baking pan or cooking sheet and brush top of each empanada with egg yolk.  I didn't have a brush so I used the back of a spoon, it worked fine. Sprinkle top with salt and chili powder.

Bake 12 to 13 minutes at 400 degrees.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  I had them both and warm is definitely better!