One of our longtime friends and DPS artist, Ozzie Aziz does many things in addition to singing. She can cook! 2 videos showcasing a little dish of her own can be found at the following links-
Here is the Recipe straight from Ozzie-
Ozzie’s Empanadas
2 ½-3 cups cooked chicken
Emeril’s original essence seasoning
2 medium to small jalapenos seeded & chopped very small (depending on your taste for heat)
½ red bell pepper chopped very small (more if desired)
1 cup Frozen peas
8 – 10 oz shredded Mexican cheese blend
6 – 8 oz cream cheese
1 tablespoon ground cumin
1 ½ teaspoons salt
½ teaspoon pepper
1 pack refrigerated pie crusts (roll out ones, not in shell)
1 egg
Water
(If you want to make home-made Pie crusts, recipe will follow:)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees f.
Lightly grease a large baking sheet.
Cut your chicken into pieces and cook it with a little Emerils essence if you don’t have chicken already cooked. Put cooked chicken aside to cool.
In a small saucepan, add some water and boil the frozen peas for approx 10 minutes, put aside to cool. Once cooled, cut the chicken into tiny pieces or shred it.
In 1 large bowl mix the chicken, peppers, cheeses, cumin, salt, pepper. Then once everything is mixed, add peas at the end and mix until combined. (make sure you taste as you go along to see if you need more cumin, salt or pepper) The final mixture should have a gooey, stuck together texture.
Unroll 1 pie crust onto a lightly floured surface, roll into a 15 inch circle.
Cut out rounds using a 3-4 inch cookie cutter, re-roll dough as needed. Arrange 1 round on a clean flat surface, lightly brush the edges with water, place 1 heaping teaspoon of chicken mixture in the center of the round, fold the dough over the filling into a half moon shape, pressing the edges with a fork to seal. Once you have completed all empanadas and arranged them on the baking sheet, whip your egg and brush it over each empanada. Bake for 15 minutes.
Home-made Pie crust
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) very cold unsalted butter
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/3 cup very cold vegetable shortening
- 6 to 8 tablespoons (about 1/2 cup) ice water
Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture. Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix. Add the butter and shortening. Pulse 8 to 12 times, until the butter is the size of peas. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Cut the dough in half. Roll each piece on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit the pan. Repeat with the top crust.