There are certain food items that just pop into your mind when you hear “New York”. Cheesecake, Pizza, Bagels, Deli Meats, Hot Dogs, Black and White Cookies… at least that’s what I think of. And that’s with having fairly easy access to the Biggest City in the World. I believe many that don’t have that access think of these food items when they hear about New York. Many dream of being able to come to Manhattan and have a truly authentic New York experience, complete with an extremely oversized deli sandwich and follow it up with a slice of New York Cheesecake. With all my trips to NYC, there are other foods that come to mind now when I think it. Cookies, Banana Pudding, Fresh Seafood, Sandwiches and one of my all time favorites, Empanadas. So why not take those two worlds and combine them into one amazing appetizer/street food?
We had arrived two years ago to NYC and made our way up Broadway to our hotel. On the way, we found a few more food and craft stalls alongside the Big White Way, just like those ones in Bryant Park and Central Park. Along with German Bratwurst being grilled, candied nuts being roasted and soft pretzels hanging warm, there were empanadas. I’m a sucker for empanadas. I really am. We had to get one at least to hold me over. We passed through Times Square, home to sensory and tourist overload, and found more food booths, with even more empanadas. We got two more. To quickly backtrack, we haven’t even arrived to our hotel yet and had already taken down 3 Empanadas. I mean it. If there are empanadas around, I have to have at least one. Later that trip, when we found ourselves in Bryant Park’s Winter Village, we found, what else, more empanadas. So yeah… when I go to NYC or even just think of it, I think of my favorite little flavor packed pockets that are flavorful and delicious.
Believe it or not, I have never had one of those massive deli sandwiches in NYC. It’s not for lack of wanting to. There are just so many options there that a making a specific trip to one just never made it on the agenda. Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had sandwiches up there. Really good ones. Just have never gotten to go to Katz’s or Sarge’s. Honestly, not being able to eat Red Meat Products did play a part in that. But even as writing this, Randy commented that he always wanted to go. Still, a good Reuben sandwich is part of New York’s Heritage. The ingredients are simple: rye bread, swiss cheese, sauerkraut, russian dressing and your choice of meat, whether that be turkey or corned beef. Some of these ingredients I’m not even a fan of on their own but together, it’s simply amazing.
One thing I noticed about the food booths at Bryant Park is that they had a lot of options that were true to what I like to do: taking old favorites and turning them on their heads. We ate so many different things there from all over the world. So when we were thinking of what to do with this theme, I wanted some things that are so quintessentially New York meshed with some of my modern day favorites. An empanada was a given. But what should the filling be? Easy. A turkey Reuben.
You can go out and buy empanada dough that is premade and precut. That’s an easy option if you are short on time or intimidated by making your own dough. But believe it or not, it’s not difficult and doesn’t take up too much time.
Sifting your flour seems like a big or annoying step but it’s actually meaningful. It makes your dough lighter and gets more air in there.
The key to adding your butter in there is to make sure it starts out super cold. This will play a major part in getting it to be flaky and light in the end result. You can use a pastry cutter for this or just simply your hands to incorporate it into your flour and salt mixture. The mixture will be coarse and almost sandy like.
Your wet ingredients will be added in then to your dry ingredients and incorporated with just a fork. No mixers are needed here. Combine everything until it’s just mixed in and the mixture is scratchy or shaggy in nature.
Dump it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it together by hand, using the heel of your hand most often to incorporate. You will see actual chunks of butter in there and that’s normal.
Once you have incorporated everything into a square, wrap it up in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least one hour.
Once ready to start building, assemble all of your other ingredients. We picked up Roasted Turkey lunchmeat from our local deli section along with swiss cheese, sauerkraut and russian dressing.
Take your refrigerated dough and roll it out to be about an 1/4 inch thick. Take a circle cutter or even the lid of an item and cut out 4 inch wide circles.
In your circles, layer a piece of swiss cheese, a piece of turkey breast, 1 tsp of sauerkraut, 1/2 tsp of Russian dressing and another piece of swiss cheese. Your swiss cheese and turkey pieces will be about an inch wide and an inch long.
Carefully fold the dough over to form a crescent look. Either using a fork or your fingers, crimp little folds over to seal the filling and create the pocket.
You now have two options: you can either air fry these or pan fry them. We pan fried them to ensure crispness and take the authentic route.
Heat your oil over medium heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Carefully lay your empanadas into the oil and cook 5 minutes or until golden brown on each side. Flip and continue cooking until golden brown.
Remove and land on paper towels to absorb oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and serve warm with additional Russian Dressing.
These are a perfect little unexpected treat for the Big Game, Parties, a Fun Dinner, Appetizers or movie night!
Turkey Reuben Empanadas
Serves 4
Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes Cook Time: 10 minutes
Empanada Dough
- 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup ice water
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Filling
- 6 Slices Swiss Cheese
- 6 Slices Roasted Turkey Breast Lunch Meat
- 1 cup Sauerkraut
- 1 1/4 cup Russian Dressing
- Salt & Pepper to Taste
1 quart canola oil or peanut oil
Sift flour with salt into a large bowl. Mix in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture looks like coarse meal with some pea sized butter lumps.
Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. Your Mixture will look shaggy or stringy in texture.
Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour.
Remove dough from chilling and lay out on a lightly floured surface. Roll out to be a quarter of an inch thick. Cut 4 inch wide circles or wider if you want bigger empanadas.
Remove extra dough from around edges and reserve. Keeping to the right side of each circle, lay down a 1 inch by 1 inch piece of swiss cheese, several similar sized pieces of turkey breast, 1 tsp of sauerkraut, a dot of Russian Dressing and another piece of swiss. Try to leave a small border around the circle to allow crimping.
Take remaining dough and roll out. Repeat process to make more empanadas.
Fold the bare half of the dough over the fillings. Press down to seal and crimp the edges over or press with a fork. This insures the pockets are sealed.
In a medium sized, thick bottomed pan, heat your oil over medium heat until 350 degrees. Lay out sheet tray and cover with several paper towels next to pan.
Carefully lay empanadas down in oil. Cook for five minutes or until golden brown on side. Carefully using tongs, flip over empanadas and cook until golden brown.
Remove from oil and land on paper towels to absorb extra oil. Sprinkle with salt & pepper. Serve with remaining Russian Dressing and enjoy!