Empanadas de Pato a la Huancaina: Duck Empanadas with a Spicy Peruvian Sauce

Last Friday I had two dear friends over for dinner. As Emily, Laura and I love Spanish, travel and good food, I thought it fitting to prepare empanadas for dinner. I'd recently purchased aji amarillo paste and was excited to try it out. Aji de gallina and papas a la huancaina are among my favorite Peruvian dishes, so I thought it would be a fun twist to try substituting duck for the traditional chicken. (For the purists out there, this is my version of the sauce).

For the Duck:

4 duck legs, thawed (or fresh!), rinsed well with water and patted dry with a paper towel.
S & P

Heat oven to 300.
Salt and pepper duck legs.
Place duck legs fat side down inside cooking dish.
Cook for 2 1/2-3 hours or until fat has melted into cooking dish.
Remove duck legs from cooking dish, place atop paper towels to drain some of the fat and let cool.
Remove duck meat and set aside.

For Aji/Huancaina Sauce:

1 diced onion
3 minced garlic cloves
4 tablespoons aji amarillo paste
2 cups chicken stock
3 slices stale white bread
1 cup whole milk
4 oz crumbled queso fresco
1 tablespoon butter or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon Paprika
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
1/4 teaspoon Cumin
S&P to taste


Soak bread in milk. Mash up with a fork.
In large saute pan, heat up olive oil or butter over medium to medium-low heat.
Add onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes, keeping an eye on it to make sure that the garlic
does not brown.
Add cumin, turmeric and paprika to mixture.
Add mashed bread/milk and aji amarillo to pan. Cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add chicken stock and queso fresco to pan. Simmer 20 minutes.
Blend mixture until smooth. Return to heat and simmer additional 15-20 minutes.
Store sauce in refrigerator until serving.



For Empanadas:

10 empanada shells
4 oz chopped spinach
4 oz crumbled queso fresco
1 caramelized onion
Duck meat

To Make Empanadas:

Preheat oven to 400.
Roll out defrosted empanada shells and fill with duck meat, spinach, crumbled queso freso and caramelized onion mixture.
Fold over shells to make a half moon. Pinch shut with fingers and then press along seam with a fork to create indentations.
Cook about 20 minutes in oven until empanadas are golden.

Serve with heated huancaina sauce and a delicious Pisco Sour!

Empanadas de Choclo: Sweet Corn and Cheese Empanadas

These vegetarian empanadas are creamy, sweet and salty. They are ridiculously easy to prepare and make very satisfying snack or side dish.

Ingredients:
Dough to make about 12 empanadas (homemade, or frozen-if frozen, remove from freezer before starting to cook)
1 cup creamed corn
1/4 cup ricotta
1/4 cup queso fresco, crumbled (use feta if unavailable)
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels
1/4 teaspoon dried parsley
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/8 teaspoon cumin
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Mix together creamed corn, cheeses, corn, spices and salt and pepper.

Roll out empanada dough and cut into small discs, about 3-4 inches in diameter. If using frozen discs, gently roll out a little to loosen the dough. Fill each disc with about 1 1/2 tablespoons of filling. Fold over to create a half-moon and use a fork to pinch dough shut. Repeat until all filling has been used.

Set filled shells onto a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. Cook about 20 minutes or until empanada dough is starting to turn golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool a little on cookie sheet.

Serve with salsa to kick it up a notch or add chicken and eat as an easy lunch.

Passionfruit Panna Cotta with Raspberry Lime Coulis

2 cups light cream
1 1/2 cups milk
3/4 cup thawed Goya passionfruit pulp
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons hot water
3 teaspoons Knox gelatin

2 cups fresh raspberries
Zest of 1 lime
1-2 tablespoons sugar

To Make Panna Cotta:

Heat up cream, milk, passionfruit pulp and sugar in medium heavy sauce pot over medium-low heat. Cook about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. If mixture begins to steam, turn heat down to avoid boiling. Remove from heat.

Whisk together hot water and gelatin in small bowl. Let dissolve for about 5 minutes. Stir in some hot passionfruit cream until gelatin dissolves.

Mix in gelatin mixture into passionfruit cream. Taste and add more sugar if cream is too tart. Let cool to room temperature, stirring occasionally.

Pour into 6-8 ramekins and refrigerate, covered with Saran wrap at least 4 hours.


To Make Raspberry-Lime Coulis:

Place 1 1/2 cup raspberries in a saucepan and add the lime zest. Mash with a fork and add 1 tablespoon, stirring until dissolved.

When the raspberries are just beginning to simmer, pour through a sieve into a bowl, pushing the berries with a large spoon to release the juice. Taste, adding more sugar if needed.


Serve panna cotta with raspberry-lime coulis. Garnish with fresh raspberries.