I was watching the PBS  James Beard Nominated TV Show Patis Mexican Table. I saw Patis Jinich make Sardine Empanadas. She talked about how she grew up eating sardines and loves sardines and I thought I do too. I thought what a great idea….I want to make sardine empanadas too.   I wrote down all the ingredients that I remembered she used on TV. She said the secret of the sardine tasting good here were the mushrooms…..(who knew?)…….The biggest difference Patis’s Recipe and what I did is that I didn’t use puff pastry and made a quick oil crust. Other than that I did some things different and I added scallions, cilantro and 1/2 a roasted lime……But I would not have come up with this recipe if I didn’t watch Patis on TV.  So I have to Thank Patis of Patis Mexican Table for sharing with us such a great recipe that is delicious! This recipe makes around ten empanadas but you will have extra filling leftover that you can use for one lunch.

Ingredients for about 5 servings

2 cans boneless skinless sardines (about 3.75 oz a can) (don’t drain oil yet because you will use oil to sauté vegetables)

1/2 cup olives stuffed with pimentos (I used Spanish Queen Olives) – chopped well

1/2 white onion – mine was 3.5 oz – chopped well

1 cup tomato – I used slow roasted but fresh or canned are fine – chopped (***My tomatoes were extremely sweet from being skinless and slow roasted***you might need adjustment to flavor with a small amount of sugar if your tomatoes aren’t sweet)

1/4 cup  pickled jalapeños – preferably my recipe on this site or purchased from a farmers market….you want good ones

4 oz mushrooms – sliced thin

1/4 cup scallions sliced thin

2 tablespoons fresh cilantro – chopped

1/4 teaspoon course salt (or to taste)

1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper (or to taste)

1/2 lime (this gets roasted till sweet) ((Skip lime if you don’t want to roast it))

2 cups flour (plus a little extra for rolling)

1/2 cup oil

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon course sea salt (the dough is so delicious with course sea salt..it turns almost sweet and you get these pops of tasty salt)

1/3 cup water

2 eggs – separated (whites are for sealing and the yolks are for glazing the empanadas)

Instructions

Set oven to 350 degrees F.

Brush the cut part of the 1/2 lime with oil from the sardine can and put on a baking sheet in the oven for 45 minutes.

Line two sheet pans with quilon coated baking sheets and put them to the side.

In a medium sized mixing bowl combine the flour, 1/2 cup oil, 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar, 1 teaspoon course sea salt, 1/3 cup water. Mix well and knead……roll into a ball, wrap with plastic wrap and put to the side.

Put a fry pan on medium high heat with about a Tablespoon of oil from a sardine can. Cook the onions till translucent. Add them to a large bowl. Add a little more oil to the fry pan and sauce the mushrooms. Try to get them a little browned when they are cooked and a little brown add them to the bowl. Now sautée the tomatoes till they are falling apart. Now add back in the onions and mushrooms……if it’s liquid  continues coming out you have to cook it more to dry it up some. Add the olives, jalapeño, salt and pepper. Take off heat and add the scallions, cilantro, sardines (slightly broken up) and a squeeze of the roasted 1/2 lime. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Put to the side.

The two eggs get separated and beaten. You should have one small bowl of whites to glue the empanadas together and one small bowl of beaten yolks to gloss up the empanadas.

Get ready to roll out the dough.

Sprinkle surface and rolling pin with a small amount of flour.

Roll out dough. I used a cap from a container of nuts to cut out empanada circle shaped dough but you can use a bowl. The cap measured a little under five inches.

Now you take your fingers and wet them with the beaten egg whites and run that around the circle of dough.

Then fill the dough with about a heaping tablespoon of filling but pick off the top where it’s less juicy.

Fold over

Now crimp ends with a fork and place on lined sheet.

They get brushed with the beaten egg yolks.

Repeat till you are done. The last two empanada shells might need to be made with the ends of dough that you re-roll.

They go in a 350 degree oven till done or for about 20 minutes.

You are going to be pleasantly surprised !

These Sardine Empanadas are FORKING TASTY!

WOW my husband isn’t a fan of sardines but loves these Sardine Empanadas….All the flavors together are terrific…..They came out so Forking Tasty that he said now you should make all kinds of empanadas.

A Special Thanks to Patis Jinich of Patis Mexican Kitchen for sharing and coming up with such a tasty dish!