Mushroom and Cheese Empanada

This recipe was created like most, by default! I had some seta mushrooms in the fridge and thought, what should I do with them? Then I had some leftover scraps of empanada dough too that had to be used soon. So I said 1+1=2 isn't it? I'll make an empanada!

Ingredients needed:

-100g of seta mushrooms
-an onion or leek
-a quarter or half of a tomato
-two tbsp. of tomato sauce or paste
-a tbsp. of olive oil
-150g of the cheese of your choice
-two tbsp. of butter
-1/3 cup of milk
-empanada dough
-four tbsp. of flour
-an egg
-salt

First rinse the seta mushrooms off and dry off with some paper kitchen towel. Slice the mushroom up in strips, dice up an onion and/or leek and cut the tomato up. Pour a spoon of olive oil in a pan and saute the lightly salted vegetables on medium heat for about 10 minutes. You don't want the vegetables to be too done, but you want them to have released their juices and have browned a bit.
When the vegetables are done, turn them off and allow them to cool for several minutes. In the meantime, make the cheese sauce! Melt the butter in a pot. Add two tbsp. of flour and whisk so that the flour cooks. Mix in the milk, adding it little by little. You want the bechamel sauce, which is what you are making, to be thick. You don't want it to be too liquidy so make sure to add the milk little by little and if it's getting too liquidy then don't add all the milk. Whisk the sauce, under a low flame. It'll thicken in a few minutes. When it seems done, add 1-2 tbsp. of tomato sauce, some salt and the grated cheese and mix. You can also add pepper or fresh herbs. There are no rules to cooking so feel free to experiment! After the cheese has melted and is mixed in well, pour the seta mushroom mixture into the cheese sauce, stir in and then allow to cool.

To prepare the dough, sprinkle flour on the kitchen top. If it's leftover empanada dough as I had, then roll it into a ball, put it on the kitchen top, flatten it out with your hand and then roll out with a floured rolling pin. Flip the dough over and roll out each side several times in order to make a square or circle. You'll have to make two of these same shapes for the empanada. Of course the easiest thing is, if you are using new frozen dough that has already been semi-rolled out and is shaped so it's easier to work with. You can see more detailed images of how to do this in previous empanada postings.
Preheat the oven on high. Place a piece of parchment paper on a large cookie pan, place the rolled out dough on top and then pour the filling on the dough. Spread it out, being careful not to break the dough. Once the filling is rolled out, place the other dough on top, and then roll the sides of the lower dough in with the sides of the upper dough layer. Brush the egg on the dough and then lightly poke holes in the top with a fork.

Lower the oven temperature to 180C/356F and place the empanada in the oven. Allow to bake for 25-35 minutes. Remove from the oven when the top has browned like in the picture below:
When done, take the empanada out of the oven and allow to cool for a few minutes and then cut and serve! Try not to burn yourself i your excitement to try this yummy treat!

Remember that you can make just about any kind of empanada. The key is to make sure that the filling isn't too liquidy and to roll the sides of the empanada up so that it doesn't open up in the oven.

Enjoy and keep enjoying the kitchen!

Ginger Salmon with Shrimp

Ingredients needed to serve two people:

-2 fillets of salmon
-100g of shrimp
-fresh ginger
-2 pieces of garlic
-a medium onion
-a piece of a chili pepper
-3 spoons of soy sauce
-a spoon of honey
-3 spoons of olive oil


One of the best ingredients that you can have in the kitchen is soy sauce. It's natural, healthy, tastes delicious and whether it's mixed with sugar, honey, lemon, orange juice, ginger, garlic, chili pepper or even vinegar, it can be used in an unlimited number of ways.

To prepare this dish, slice up an onion, pour 3 tablespoons of olive oil in a medium pan and saute for 2-4 minutes. Add the finely sliced garlic and continue sauteing for another 1-2 minutes.


















In the meantime, peel the ginger with a spoon. That's not a typo a spoon! Grate the piece of ginger the size of a finger and sprinkle it over the salmon.


















Put the salmon in the pan and pour the soy sauce in the pan and allow to simmer for about 4-5 minutes per side. When the salmon looks nearly done, add the slice of the chili pepper being careful to have already removed the seeds if you don't want it too spicy. Add the peeled shrimp and tablespoon of honey as well. Stir the shrimp and onions, being careful not to break up the salmon. If you don't know how long to cook the salmon for, five minutes on each side is a safe bet. You can also cook it less if you like it a little raw in the middle, but only do so with fresh salmon.


















When done, serve with basmalti rice, rice noodles or your choice of side.

This s a very easy recipe! Remember the sky is the limit in the kitchen, so keep on exploring and enjoy!

Upside Down Apple Pie

Yesterday was Mother's Day in Spain. My future mother-in-law loves dried nuts, so I wanted to play with this idea to make her something special. This is a very easy dessert to make and guaranteed to impress! You need:


-1 apple
-1 empanada/pie dough
-several spoons of sugar
-cinnamon
-an egg
-dried nuts (pistachios/almonds/cashews)

Roll out the dough, sprinkling flour first on the surface and rubbing it on the rolling pin to prevent it from sticking. Peel and slice up the apple. Crush the nuts in a mortar and pestle. Now everything's prepared to make the upside down pie! First, melt the sugar (half a cup, depending on how sweet you want the pie to be!) in a pan on a medium flame, whisking to prevent burning. Be very careful whilst making caramel because if it gets stuck on your skin, it will cause a terrible burn! When the caramel is melted, pour it in a cake pan, which has previously been covered in parchment/vegetable paper. Next, sprinkle the nuts on the caramel. Then, lay down the slices of apple, sprinkle with cinnamon, and lastly you can cover the apples with another layer of caramel, which you'll have to make in the moment because once you remove the caramel from the flame, it gets hard. Remember, the more caramel you add, the sweeter this dessert will be. So if you don't like desserts too sweet, just add a think layer at the start and leave it at that! Finally, lay the dough over the top of the pan, pushing the sides down so that it's nearly touching the apple layer. Cut the access dough off of the border of the cake pan, roll and place in saran/plastic wrap to use at a later time. Roll down the dough around the sides so that it looks pretty. Brush with egg and stick in the oven for 20-30 minutes at 175 C/347 F. It's done when the top is brown. When done, stick another piece of parchment/vegetable paper on a plate, put the plate upside down on the cake pan and carefully flip whilst still hot, to prevent the caramel from getting hard again and making the pie stick as is to the pan. Be careful of access caramel leaking out of the sides! Eat warm or at room temperature. Enjoy and keep experimenting in the kitchen!