Turkey Empanadas

I am not one to go loco for a gigantic steak or a huge cut of meat. I consume and prefer way more vegetables and fruits than meat in my diet. That being said I do eat and enjoy meat in reasonable quantities.

Currently we are four humans and two cats and one dog living in our house. Our objective is to waste as little food as possible. Lots of times, especially during the holday season it means repurposing materials for later meals. The turkey empanadas are perhps our favorite example.

Cooking With Jim

The empanadas were not part of anyone’s tradition at the house. They came to us through a cooking show I used to shoot and edit for my friend Jim Yocum, the chef of Cooking With Jim.

We were doing a series of shows on holiday meals, probably in October for early November, cablecast. There was always lots of good food to eat, or take home after the show, and Jim was exceptionally generous. On the Thanksgiving show, Jim had a coda on what to do with all that meat afterward. One of his suggestions was a quick and easy meal using all the leftovers in one wrapper.

He whipped out some puff pastry, cut it into sections, and proceeded to fill it with meat, stuffing, cranberry sauce, and a bit of gravy. He then sealed the pastry and put it in the oven to bake. When done, it turned out to be a fast and delicious post-Thanksgiving meal—little fuss and muss and incredibly good.

At our House – a new tradition

I took a few home to show my wife, and they made an instant hit at our house. I made that year on the Sunday following Thanksgiving, and I have every year since. Since I am the holiday chef at the house, I loved that there was little prep time, short cooking time, and almost no extra cleanup.

With the empanadas, you are using your leftovers, so there is no waste. In our house, after the empanadas, we finish the deboning, freeze the meat, and use the bones to make a bone broth that my wife uses in a wide variety of ways. Later on, the turkey meat winds up in soups and casseroles. Very little ever goes to waste.

Jim unfortunately passed away, but I took away a variety of lessons about cooking from him, and I frequently hear him repeating some sage bit of cooking wisdom in my ear. I know he was pleased that we adopted the empanadas.