Empanadas

This is my homage to the delicious snacks at Ruben's Empanadas in New York. In particular, I love their Chicken Empanada, which they fill with chicken in a creamy bechamel sauce.

Frozen pie crusts make this recipe easier. Fill with whatever you want, veggies are best, but a tasty treat is a creamy turkey filling. Kind of like a turkey tetrazzini pocket.

To make it, first remove frozen pie crust and set aside. Brown ground turkey (seasoned with salt & pepper or my favorite Goya Adobo seasoning). Once cooked, remove the turkey and set aside. Add a little butter to the pan and a little flour. Stir carefully to create a rue (or a sticky light brown paste). Once it starts to sizzle add milk (about 1/2 a cup at a time). Stir mixture until it is consistently white and begins to thicken. Pour in another 1/2 cup of milk and stir until very thick.

Add a handful of shredded cheese and cooked turkey. Set aside and let cool.

Roll out pie dough on a surface dusted with flour and cut out as many circles as you can fit. (3" in diameter will yield appetizer size pies, try 5" or so for a more substantial pie).

Once your circles are rolled, scoop a spoonful of cooled filling inside. Fold over to make a half-circle pocket. Crimp edge with a fork. Pierce pocket with two slits and paint with egg.

Bake for 30-45 min at 350 degrees or until brown.

Let it cook before you bite in -- these are hot!

Curry Lettuce Wraps

Yummy, healthy, summery snack! (caution, requires mucho chopping)

Grilled Chicken -- diced
1/2 tomato -- diced
1/2 red onion -- diced
1/2 cucumber or bell pepper -- diced

2 tbs lowfat mayonnaise
1 tbs mustard
1 tsp curry powder (or tandoori paste)
salt & pepper to taste

mix all and scoop into washed and separated lettuce leaves. eat carefully.

Chilaquiles

Despite all the supermarket frustrations of East Harlem (don't get me started on finding a good balsamic vinegar without sounding like a complete yuppie foodie), there is an abundance of awesome items for delicious mexican dishes (could be all the mexican restaurant workers...).

Anyways, here's a dish I read on a menu and could literally hear it going straight to my ass, so here's my pared down version:

Two corn tortillas (diced into 2 in x 1 in strips)
2 Eggs (cracked and whipped)
Shredded Cheese (Cheddar or Mexican Mix)
Diced chilies
Hot Sauce
Sour Cream

Spray pan with Pam toss corn tortillas and cook until soft (might need a few more sprays). Once tortillas are fairly cooked pour in eggs and scramble in pan. Once eggs are nearly set, sprinkle with a handful of shredded cheese and diced chilies. Scramble until its all dispersed. Season with salt and pepper. Top with a dollop of sour cream and shake on some hot sauce.

Onigiri

So I used to get these at this AMAZING Japanese bakery near my old office on 44th street. It's AMAZING, cause everything is cute and perfect and delicious and under $4. Also, they have a Beard Papa in the store and everything is better with Beard Papa (seriously, if you're having a bad day, Beard Papa tops my feel good treats list).

Anyways, I recently found these Onigiri at JAS Mart on Saint Marks (which bummed me out cause I used to live a block away for two years and never knew they had these yummy treats). Anyways, since I've been packing my own lunch lately, I thought I'd give these a try at home.

What it is: Rice Ball, stuffed with filling, eaten wrapped in a fresh sheet of nori (seaweed)

My version:

Rice - I've read that sushi is actually really bad for you cause you're eating like a pound of white rice per roll, which is the same as I don't know half a loaf of Wonder Bread, so I tried to healthy this up using brown rice. Although I quickly learned that to help this stay you need sticky rice, so I used 1/2 Japanese medium grain rice and 1/2 cooked brown rice.

Follow the directions on the rice packaging (mine called for 1 1/2 c rice, 2 cups water; bring to a boil; cook 10-20 min covered until water is absorbed; let sit 10 min covered). The brown rice is from Trader Joes, you just microwave it for 60 seconds with a slit in the package for the steam to escape.

Mix 2 cups or so of each rice in a large bowl until brown rice is well distributed. (I like to mix in 2 tablespoons of flax seeds for extra health, but you can also use sesame seeds)

For an easy filling, I used drained tuna fish and drained salmon (both from the can).

Next spoon two spoonfuls of rice mix into a 1c. measuring cup. Pack it down with a 3/4 c. measuring cup, which should fit easily into the larger cup. Then put filling in the center of the packed rice. Spoon on two more spoonfuls of rice and pack again. Flip the 1c. measuring cup and tap it until rice pattie falls free. Wrap with nori. Eat :)

Mess: 5 (That sticky rice sticks to everything, also it takes a number of instruments to make these)