Date Night

This recipe is a bit lengthy, perfect for date nights when the kids are away and you can enjoy the process of putting it all together. Complete with a glass of wine and the Gipsy Kings on Pandora, followed by this heartwrenching romantic movie . So perfect!

Black Bean Empanada's:

Filling:

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 red bell pepper

1/2 red onion

1/2 cup shredded purple cabbage

1 small shredded zuchinni

1 clove crushed garlic

1 can balck beans drained

1/2 cup shredded smoked cheddar cheese

1 tablspoon cumin

salt and pepper to taste

squeeze of lime juice

handfull cilantro, chopped

Dough:

1 1/4 cup flour

6 tblspoon butter or shortening

1/3 cup COLD water

1 teaspoon salt

Egg wash:
1 egg
1/4 cup water

Pinapple green chile chutney:
1 can crushed pinapple
1 small can of green chiles
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 clove chopped garlic

So first start by making the dough. Mix salt into flour and cut in butter (I like to use a food processor for this), then add water little bit at a time until it resembles dry oats. Put into plastic wrap and let chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Now after you chop veggies heat olive oil in skillet and add the onions and red pepper. Saute until soft and aromatic then add purple cabbage, garlic and shredded zuchinni and coook down a bit. Add cumin and salt and pepper, black beans and cilantro. Squeeze a bit of lime juice and at the last minute add the shredded cheese. Turn off heat and set aside while you make the chutney.

In your food processor put pinapple, garlic, green chiles, dash of salt and cilantro and puree.

To assemble Empanadas:

Take out the dough and divide into about 10 balls, and on a floured surface roll out each ball to about 1/8" thickness to make a disc. Place all discs onto lightly oiled baking sheet and get your egg wash ready.

Place about one rounded tablspoon onto each disc, brush egg wash onto half of the discs edge, fold over then crimp around the sealed edge with a fork. Brush the top with egg wash and make a slit with a knife to create a vent for the steam.

Bake in oven set to 4oo degrees for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Serve with pinapple chutney. We ended up with quite a bit of left over mix that we used it as a dip with corn chips, but would be really good with rice and use it to stuff peppers. Yum!