Caramelized kabocha and persimmon empanadas with vanilla atole pastry cream
Recipe by Tony Ortiz
Makes 24-30 empanadas
Prep time 1.5 hours
Cook time 30 minutes
Earthy and sweet maiz empanadas that are filled with jammy caramelized squash, persimmon and walnuts then married with vanilla atole custard and tossed in cinnamon sugar.
Serve immediately. If planning to serve at a later time you can cover the assembled raw empanadas with a damp cloth and place in fridge or freeze the assembled empanadas and then fry from frozen before serving.
I included links to my favorite products and tools!
Ingredients
Caramelized kabocha, persimmon and walnut filling
400g raw deseeded kabocha (about one mini kabocha)
150g fuyu or hachiya persimmon (one persimmon)
1 cup fresh water
230g piloncillo or panela
1 large stick of mexican cinnamon
1/2 cup of crushed walnuts
Vanilla atole pastry cream
25g Corn flour
265g Milk of your choice (I used almond)
51g of cane sugar
50g of egg or one whole egg
30g of butter room temp
1 pod vanilla or 3 t of vanilla extract
Cinnamon Sugar dust
1 cup of white sugar
½ cup of mexican cinnamon powder (I used cinnamon verum from Burlap & Barrel)
Cinnamon and masa harina empanada dough
4 cups of water
1 mexican cinnamon stick
4 cups of masa harina (I used masa harina from Masienda)
Frying
5 cups of neutral oil
Special tools
Method
Cinnamon Sugar dust
Pour mixture into a flat bowl or plate that you will toss empanadas in. Mix with whisk until incorporated.
Cinnamon and masa harina empanada dough
Steep cinnamon in boiling water for 10 minutes and hold.
Once the tea is warm add the masa harina and tea into a bowl and mix together using hands. The dough is done when you can make a small ball with your hands and smush it down without the edges cracking. If the edges crack this means you need more hydration. If it is too mushy or sticky - add more masa harina.
Caramelized kabocha and persimmon
Peel the kabocha (peeling kabocha is optional) using a “Y’ peeler making sure to get to the layer of orange flesh. Cut off stem, slice in half and then deseed with a large spoon. Cut into wedges and hold. Peel persimmon and slice off the hard stem and leaf. Cut into wedges.
Pour water into a medium sized pot. Add cinnamon stick and arrange the squash and persimmon with pieces of piloncillo. Bring the water to a boil, cover with lid and drop down to a simmer
Simmer for ten minutes and then take lid off to stir the mixture around, the syrup should still be loose, squash not yet cooked and you will notice that there is more liquid in the pot than when you started.Put lid back on pot and let simmer for another 10 minutes.
Take the lid off after ten minutes and check squash. It should be soft. The syrup should be cooked down to a nappe consistency and thicker than when you last opened the lid. Turn flame off and leave pot uncovered. Let cool for ten minutes.
Once cooled, take cinnamon sticks out and mix the squash and persimmon together with w wooden spoon. Smashing the mixture as you go to make a nice jammy like paste. Fold in walnuts. Place mixture into a bowl so you can easily spoon it on empanadas when you are ready.
Vanilla atole pastry cream
Take half of your milk and sugar then pour into a small pot. Bring the milk and sugar in the pot to a boil then turn off flame.
Take the rest of milk and sugar and place into a bowl with egg and corn flour. Whisk it until until all ingredients are combined and mixture thickens a bit.
Temper your milk and egg mixture in the bowl by adding small amounts of hot milk into it and whisking until the entire mixture is warm/hot. Pour the tempered mixture into the pot and bring to a boil while whisking. As you whisk you will notice that the mixture begins to thicken into a custard consistency at about 1 minute. Keep whisking 3 more minutes until the mixture resembles a loose custard.
Pull from heat and toss in the butter and vanilla. Whisk until emulsified and then pour the mixture into a bowl or ¼ sheet tray and let cool.
Empanada pressing, frying and dusting
Masa balls
Take 1-1.5 oz of masa and roll into a ball. Once all masa is rolled out cover with a damp towel to prevent it from drying out.
Pressing
Line tortilla press with a ziplock bag or parchment paper cut to the shape of press. Place ball into the center and press down until the shape of a small tortilla. Lift the paper from the tortilla and then place a small dollop of custard on one side of the tortilla and then spoon the squash mixture onto the custard.
Fold the paper back over to cover the filling side of the empanada. Then press down around the edges using your fingers in order to seal the empanada. Start from the outer edges and press in so that filling does not spill out. Once sealed, life the paper back up exposing the empanada. Check that all edges are sealed tight so that they do not open during the frying process.
Frying
Pour enough neutral oil to submerge the empanadas completely - into a medium sized pot. Bring temperature to 375 degrees so that it has room to decrease once you add cold empanadas. Once oil is up to temp place empanadas slowly into oil. Fry on one side for three minutes and then flip using a fish spatula. Fry for two more minutes until golden brown and then place on a wire rack.
Dusting
Let the empanada cool down for a couple of seconds until you can handle with hands and then place it in the plate with the cinnamon sugar dust. Spoon the mixture over the empanada and then flip over and repeat. Pick the coated empanada up and lightly shake off the excess dust mixture.
Place back on wire rack and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.
Serve with fresh lightly sweetened cream and macerated seasonal fruit
Buen Provecho!