Chicken & Bacon Puff Pastry Empanada, a Leftover Victory

Does this look like it's made from leftover Jamie Oliver chicken???

I made Roast Chicken in Milk, Sage & Citrus, last Christmas Eve, based on a Jamie Oliver recipe. See my recipe here.

The chicken was so tender and succulent! We still had leftovers a week later and by that time, it had turned to some kind of pasty, disintegrated chicken.

Jamie Oliver chicken does not look appetising as a leftover....

I hate to throw away good food, so I decided to "re-fashion" the chicken into a light lunch of Chicken & Bacon Puff Pastry Empanadas, served with a side salad of spinach, cherry tomatoes and croutons, in a honey balsamico dressing.

The recipe is easy to make, and I relied on my trusted assistant, my teenaged son, to do this. No one will believe that you made these beautiful empanadas from the picture above!




CHICKEN & BACON PUFF PASTRY EMPANADA
Makes 8 pieces

Ingredients:

Leftover chicken, in this case, from a Roast Chicken dish
3 rashers of bacon, chopped into small pieces
1/2  cup frozen vegetables, thawed and drained
salt and pepper to taste
2 sheets puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Procedure:

1. Chop up the leftover chicken into tiny pieces, small enough to fit into your empanada triangles, but still chunky enough. You may not have to do this for all the chicken, if they have become stringy and soggy; just cut the big pieces.

2.  Pan fry the bacon in a little, hot oil, until brown but not crispy. Add the chicken and sauté until most of the liquid from its original sauce evaporates. (You don't want the filling to be too wet or it will turn your empanadas soggy.)

3.  Add the frozen vegetables and sauté further. Set aside to cool.

4. Prepare the pastry by getting out one sheet at a time. Return the other sheet in the freezer. Make an X to cut the pastry into 4 triangles. Work quickly!

Note: Puff pastry is made of layers of thin dough with frozen butter in between. You need to keep the sheet cold in order for the butter to remain solid. This gives the pastry the puff when you bake it. If the sheet has softened and the butter has melted, the pastry won't be so puffy when you bake it. If this happens--as it does in Singapore where it's very hot--just return the pastry in the freezer to make it hard again.

Tip:  Put the pastry on top of a sheet of baking paper. You can then lift the paper (instead of the empanadas) when you're ready to bake them. Place them on the baking pan with the baking paper underneath them. I find that this is also convenient when the empanadas turn soggy because of the heat. Just lift the baking paper with the empanadas, put it on a small pan (or in my case, a small chopping board) and put it back into the freezer to harden, before you bake them.

5.  Brush beaten egg on the borders of the triangle. This will also serve to seal it when you fold it after you fill it.

Brushing beaten egg on the edges of the triangles.

6.  Make sure the filling is cool (or it will melt the butter)! Spoon it on one side of the triangle. Fold over and crimp the edges with a fork.  Brush with egg wash. Pierce the top with a fork.

Don't worry if your empanada isn't perfectly crimped. When they bake, these edges will merge and those imperfections won't even be noticeable!  The key is to work FAST.

7.  Bake in a preheated oven at 400F, for about 10 minutes or until golden brown.  If the pastry has become soggy while you're working it (which happens here all the time due to hot Singapore), just put it back in the freezer to chill.  No big deal!  Once it is hard again, take it out and bake.  Here is the finished product: