Welcome to Friday. Pull up a chair, have an empanada.

Did I tell you that I’m writing another cookbook? I am. It’s all very exciting. And it’s totally because you guys have really been super supportive, and have bought the heck out of the first one. Keep buying it! Yay!

So thank you. Sincerely.

The manuscript is due February 1, 2012, and it’s slated for publication date Fall 2012. I think you’re really going to like it. It will be a true companion piece to Book 1.

Did you ever see the movie What Women Want, with Mel Gibson and Helen Hunt? Me either. But not for lack of trying. I started it a few times, but it just didn’t take. It might be that I couldn’t watch it on account of its being really … stupid. But I’m not sure.

Perhaps the movie had some secret formula for what we women want (do we just get to pick one thing that we want? I have a list. Anyone else have a list?), but I’ll never know. At this point, I’d settle for some secret formula for how to avoid ever seeing the same 5 scenes of that movie in an endless loop every time I’m watching television and flipping through those middling channels, in the channel 30 to channel 50 range.

Isn’t there a name for that phenomenon – the one where you never really see the whole of a movie or television show, but instead always catch the same 5 to 10 minutes of one as you channel surf? I’m sure there’s a Sniglet for that. Not sure.

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, it’s perhaps because I’m getting old. The bad news about that: you don’t get my pop culture references, yet I insist on continuing to make them. The good news about that: you feel young and, therefore, superior. I dunno.

There’s so much I don’t know.

So even though I may not know What Women Want, I do have a fairly firm grasp of What Empanadas Want. They want fresh tomato sauce, combined with a few other goodies to make their favorite fillings. They’re relatively easy to please, empanadas. Unlike women, apparently.

Remember a couple days ago when we made Empanada Dough 2.0? Don’t feel bad if you don’t remember. Maybe you’re just getting old. It happens to the best of us.

What were we talking about?

Oh, right. Empanadas. First, a few notes about cooking empanadas. They are traditionally deep fried. I am a big fan of deep frying. It is way better for you than shallow frying, since frying at the proper temperature ensures that the food absorbs very little oil. But I tend to only want to deep fry it if I’m going to have a relatively large crowd, since there’s the matter of all that oil, and what to do with it after I am done deep frying. You have to strain it, and store it in a cool, dark place, and even then there are limits on how and for what purpose you can use it. Blah blah blah.

Enter stir frying.

In a wok.

Empanadas cook up super speedy quick, you don’t need much oil to get the job done, and they’re light and flaky.

The fillings go like this:

1 cup fresh tomato sauce, recipe below {plus 1 cup for dipping}
2 cups cooked chicken, shredded, or cooked ground beef
1 thick slice gluten-free bread, cubed and soaked in 1/4 cup warm milk, then drained slightly
1 to 2 tablespoons all-purpose gluten-free flour

To prepare the filling, simply place all the filling ingredients together in a large bowl, mix gently until well combined, and place about 2 teaspoons filling in the center of each round of empanada dough. Fold the dough in half to cover the filling, and press the edges of the pastry together to seal well. Stir fry in a neutral oil like canola oil, or place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper in an oven preheated to 400 degress Fahrenheit, and bake until browned, about 12 minutes. Serve with tomato sauce for dipping.

This tomato sauce couldn’t be more simple, and it’s a great way to breathe life into your Summer tomato bounty. In the winter, I make it with a 28 ounce can of whole peeled tomatoes, and it’s delicious, still. Expect to ruin your family for the jarred stuff.

Love you. Mean it.
xoxo Nicole