Thursday, April 19, 2007

Hearts of palm empadinhas and Limeade with raspberries

Hearts of palm empadinhas

I loved this Blog Party theme, hosted by The Happy Sorcerer: picnic food!!! Yay!!!

My parents, my brother and I used to have great picnics when I was a kid. We spent great days in a park in São Paulo. My brother and I would play and run around and after all that “work out” we’d have the wonderful snacks prepared by my mom. That was great!

To take part I decided to make a very Brazilian recipe: empadinhas. These are my first empadinhas so I still need to get the hang of it – some of them almost opened up while in the oven.
Besides that, they are wonderful – the crust is flaky without being too crumbly and the filling completes it perfectly.

I got the dough recipe from a very talented Brazilian foodie and the filling was adapted from a Brazilian website.

Step-by-step photos by João.

Hearts of palm empadinhas

Dough:
450g (3 ¼ cups) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
120g unsalted butter, cold and diced
100g shortening, cold and diced
1 large egg, lightly beaten
70ml ice water

Filling:
4 tablespoons vegetable oil – canola would be great 2 medium onions, chopped2 tomatoes, seeds removed, finely diced580g (4 cups) hears of palm, finely chopped60g (½ cup) olives, chopped4 tablespoons cornstarch 240ml (1 cup) milk salt

Egg wash:
1 egg yolk – I wasn’t paying attention and used the whole egg :S
1 tablespoon water

Place the flour, salt, butter and shortening in a food processor and pulse until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and water and process until a soft and smooth dough forms. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Since my food processor is tiny, I made the dough by hand: place the flour, salt, butter and shortening in a bowl and rub with the tip of your fingers until it resembles breadcrumbs. Add the egg and water, mix well and knead until a soft and smooth dough forms. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

For the filling: in a large pan over high heat, heat the oil and add the onions. Cook until golden. Add the hearts of palm, tomatoes and olives and cook for 8-10 minutes.
In a cup, place the cornstarch and milk and mix well using a fork. Add this mixture to the hearts of palm and stir constantly until creamy. Season to taste, remove from heat and set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/355 ºF.
Grab a small amount of dough and flatten it. Place it inside an empadinha pan - or use a muffin pan - and line the bottom and the sides with the dough. Repeat the process with other pans.

Place tablespoons of filling inside the prepared pans.

Roll portions of dough and cut circles. Place the circles on top of empadinhas and seal well.
Brush with the egg wash and bake for 30 minutes or until golden – in the last 5 minutes I raised the oven temperature to 200ºC.

Remove from the oven and set aside it cool for 5 minutes. Unmold the empadinhas and serve.

Makes about 45 empadinhas, about 5cm each

Limeade with raspberries

1 large lime
200ml water
1 ½ tablespoons frozen raspberries
sugar
ice

Squeeze the lime, add the water and sugar to taste. Pour in a nice glass and add the raspberries and ice.
Serve immediately.

Makes 1 glass.

17 comments:

Lydia (The Perfect Pantry) said...

Your empadinhas are adorable! I love the little top-knot! I really need to learn how to cook with hearts of palm.

Lis said...

Patricia, I really have to stop reading your blog while I'm at work.. it's killin me, these cravings you give me!

Empadinhas are one of my favorite treats - each time we go to the farmer's market I always buy one and munch on it while we walk around.. yum!

I've never seen a recipe for them before, so I'm quite a happy camper now - thank you!
xoxo

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I never knew there was such a thing as an empadinhas pan...it makes such a neat little package! Those are really beautiful.

Brilynn said...

Those look awesome! I've never really used hearts of palm much.

Stella said...

Pat, this is a torture, another post about one of your delicious heart of palm dishes?? It's NOT FAIR *sobs*
Please send me some of your empadinhas? I'll trade the beach with you:P

Valentina said...

Pat, wonderful choice. empadinhas are just the best finger food in my opinion. And this dough is really great. Last time I made it I couldn't stop having them. Oh..and this drink..fabulous! lime and raspberry.great combination.Had them in a caipirinha last night.

Karin W. said...

What a different picnic!
Some time ago I posted a blogentry to my Swedish blog about some outdoorfood. ( Favoritrecept )

Living in the northern part of Sweden, 6 months of winter, a winter picnic may not seem like an obvious choice. But we do have picnics in winter!

(Well, you won´t understand the Swedish language and the photos are very small. I do not want to expose my family on Internet).

Gattina Cheung said...

It is a labor of love! Every bite of it will remind me the magic hand who creates them!
Your empadinhas are perfect! They look very elegant, should also deserve on cocktail table!

Anonymous said...

Your many recipes it's so good. I love very much your limonade with raspberries.

Freya said...

These look so cute! Could I used canned Hearts of Palm (I have a tin in my cupboard) because I would love to give these a try? All washed down with your raspaid!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Lydia, thank you! You know how much I love hearts of palm. :)

Lis, same here, sweetie! I go to your blog and then feel crazy to go home and cook and bake and eat!
They're easy to make, you just have to be patient enough to line all the little pans.
xoxo

Tanna, the format is similar to a muffin pan - I'm glad you liked it!

Brilynn, you should, sweetie!

Valentina, I don't want the beach, I want those vanilla crinkles. ;)

Tina, you're so right, dear. This dough is fabulous. I'm gonna try this caipirinha version, it sounds delicious!

Karin, thank you for the link - no cold weather should stop people from having fun in picnics!

Gattina, thank you, dear! I have this big burn in one of my hands, it shows in the photo - not so magic and definitely not careful enough! lol

Candy, thank you, sweetie - it was delicious and refreshing.

Freya, I think you can! If they're soft it will be perfect!
Please, let me know if you make these 'cause I'd love to know your opinion.

Anonymous said...

oh! They're so cute! Perfect picnic fare indeed :D

Barbara said...

I love hearts of palm. My first taste of them was one of those foodie moments you never forget. I can even remember where I was, what I wore, who was there and how they were served.

Anonymous said...

Hi Patricia,
The empadinhas are adorable, such perfect picnic food. And I love limeade.

BTW, I tagged you in a food meme: share your five favorite places to eat. I'd love to see your favorites in Sao Paulo. It's completely optional so feel free to do this at your leisure. :)

Anonymous said...

Great post Patricia! I love the detail. Yummy stuff!

Patricia Scarpin said...

Ellie, tks, sweetie! These are very portable. :)

Barbara, I love it too - I cook with it very often. I even though my readers would get tired of them. :)

Amy, I love limeade too - so refreshing and healthy!
Thank you, I'll be posting the meme soon.

Kristen, thank you - I'm always so glad with your comments, being the wonderful cook you are!

Anonymous said...

Can you make the empadinhas in advance, freeze them and then bake them later for an event? They sound wonderful. I'm thinking of my daughter's wedding.

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