International Puff Pastry Empanada Recipes

My American, Italian and Greek empanada hors d'oeuvres set a new record for being hogged down by my co-workers. 32 pastries gone in less than an hour and there's only six people here in the morning! Hope you enjoy them as much and feel free to experiment with different fillings.  Total prep. time about a half hour to 45 minutes

Puff Pastry Empanadas

For all 3:

2 sheets puff pastry, thawed

egg wash

Italian filling:

2 links sweet Italian sausage, out of the casing

1/4 C.vodka sauce or your favorite spaghetti sauce

1/4 C. shredded mozzeralla cheese

Greek filling:

2 C. baby spinach

1 Tbl. olive oil

1 Tbl. finely minced garlic

1/4 C. crumbled feta cheese

1 Tbl. unflavored Greek-style yogurt

American filling:

3 slices bacon

1 C. canned baked beans

1 tsp. brown mustard

1 Tbl. brown sugar

In separate saute' pans, brown the sausage, fry the bacon and saute' the garlic and baby spinach in oilve oil. Once the spinach is wilted, set aside. Drain bacon and sausage and allow to cool. In a bowl, combine beans, mustard, and brown sugar. Crumble bacon and stir in.  Stir spaghetti sauce into the sausage. Once mixture is cooled, stir in shredded mozzerella. When the spinach mix has cooled, stir in the Greek yogurt and feta cheese.

Pre-heat oven to 425. Roll out puff pastry on a floured surface to about 1/4 inch thick. Cut each sheet into 16 squares. One at a time, brush three edges of the pastry with egg wash and spoon about a teaspoonful of filling into the center. Fold the pastry in half to form a triangle. Gently pinch the edges to seal or press the two edges with a fork. (If you want to keep track of which pastry has what filling, I brushed the Greek ones with egg wash and sprinkled with parsley flakes. The Italian got a little coating of spaghetti sauce on top while the American got a little smear of bar-b-que sauce.) Place filled pastries on a parchment-lined baking sheet then place in the refrigerator while the oven heats to chill.  Cold pastry into a hot oven causes the butter in the dough to pop, puffing the pastry. When the oven is hot and the pastries are chilled, bake for about 15 minutes until puffed and brown. Best served warm.