Nan's Empanadas and Chicken Liver Rumaki

Nan and Earl went out dancing every New Year's Eve and still had the energy to host a big family dinner on New Year's day, featuring the  "Sarco Ham." The company Earl worked for gave employees a ham at holiday time, which Nan would bake on New Year's Day. 

Also on the dinner menu were potatoes (small canned potatoes crisped in a deep fryer and kept warm in the oven,) garlic bread, brussel sprouts, a big oil-and-vinegar salad, Earl's homemade wine, and the last of Nan's Christmas cookies.

Before dinner, Nan served a big shrimp ring with cocktail sauce (my kids liked the shrimp ring the best!) and oven-baked hors d'oeuvres like her empanadas.

She also made the empanadas for my bridal shower, which was at her house in 1985.

Empanadas 

Prepare the filling:

• 2 tbsp. butter or margarine
• 1/4 lb. ground chicken or lean beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1/2 tsp. crushed dried chili peppers
• 1 green pepper
• 1 large tomato
• 6 ripe olives
• 1 hard-cooked egg
• 1/2 tsp. sugar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 beaten egg

1. Remove the seeds and finely chop the green pepper.
2. Peel, seed and chop the tomato.
3. Chop the onion, olives and the egg. Set aside.
4. Heat the butter in a pan over medium heat.
5. Add the chopped onion, chili peppers, meat and green pepper.
6. Stir till the meat is no longer pink.
7. Add the tomato. Simmer gently for five minutes.
8. Remove from heat.
9. Stir in the olives, egg, sugar, salt and beaten egg. Cool.

Prepare the pastry:

• 4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. salt
• 1-1/3 cups lard
• 1/2 cup ice water
• raw beaten egg (set aside till after assembly)
• coarse salt

Sift flour and salt together in a bowl.
Cut in lard with a pastry blender.

Stir in ice water with a fork.

Roll out thin on a floured board.

Cut into sixty 3" rounds.

Put a teaspoon of cooled meat mixture on one-half of each round.

Moisten the edge of the pastry with a little water and fold to make a turn-over.

Press the edges together to seal.

Prick the top of each turn-over with a fork.

Place on ungreased cookie sheets and chill.
Shortly before serving time, pre-heat oven to 425 degrees F.

Beat an egg lightly and brush the raw egg over the pastry.

Sprinkle lightly with coarse salt.

Bake about 15 minutes till well-browned.

Serve hot. 

This recipe makes 5 dozen, so you can bake them ahead of time, freeze and re-heat as needed. If you are reheating the frozen empanadas, pre-heat the oven to 450 degrees, then put in the oven for 5 minutes or until heated through.

Nan's Chicken Liver Rumaki

Makes 16

• 8 chicken livers
• 8 water chestnuts
• 8 slices bacon
• onion powder
• 16 toothpicks
• 1/2 cup soy sauce
• 1/2 cup sherry
• 4 ground chilis
• clove of garlic, mashed
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 slice mashed ginger root

1. Cut the chicken livers, water chestnuts and slices of bacon in half.
2. You now have 16 pieces of each.
3. Sprinkle the liver pieces with onion powder.
4. Put 1 piece of liver together with 1 slice of water chestnut, wrap a slice of bacon around this combination and impale with a toothpick.
5. In a large shallow bowl, combine: soy sauce, sherry, chilis, mashed garlic and ginger root, and turmeric. Marinate the 16 bacon-wrapped liver and chestnut Rumakis in this sauce for 1 hour.
6. Place on a broiler pan and broil until the bacon is crisp, turning once to cook both sides.