Carmelized Onion and Mushroom Empanadas

Morels! And shitake! Mmm...

Bake these for 20-25 minutes at 375.

Voila!

I learned to make these in a cooking class a couple weeks ago, and I finally got around to making them at home tonight...because I'm on Spring Break from teaching this week! It's been nice so far - I've been trying to make time to go outside and I've actually gotten some dissertation writing done.

Here's the recipe (which I made 3/4 of):

Place 2 c flour and 1/2 t salt in a food processor and process for 30 seconds. Cut 8 T of chilled butter into pieces and add to the food processor; pulse several times until the mixture resembles course meal. Add 1/2 c ice water and stop the machine as the dough comes together. Turn the dough out onto a floured board and flatten it into a disk. Roll the dough into a thickness of 1/8 inch. Cut out circles of dough, and place a rounded teaspoon of the chilled filling in the center. Moisten the edges of the dough with a fingertip or brush dipped in egg white and then fold over the filling. Place in the oven at 375 for 2o to 25 minutes.

Filling:
3 T of unsalted butter
1 large red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, minces
1/2 t sugar
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 pound fresh wild mushrooms (I got mine at Whole Foods), chopped
1/4 c sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

To make the filling, melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat and cook the onion and garlic slowly for about 10 minutes. Sprinkle with the sugar and vinegar and cook until the mixture is brown and syrupy. Stir in the mushrooms and finally stir in the sour cream and then chill. Season with salt and pepper.

Overall, they're delicious, but the mushroom filling recipe makes too much for the dough - you might lessen it by 1/3. Also, using a stick of butter seems a little intense to me, so you might lighten this up too - using olive oil to cook the mushrooms perhaps or at least cutting the butter a bit.