Petra. (Empanadas)

Petra


Within me courses ancient blood.

I feel her.

Petra.

She looks back at me in timeworn sepia pictures.

Her skin is parched and cracked--
like once moist desert earth.

Wrinkled and aged beyond her years.

Brown coffee Indian skin

Silver and ebony
Wisps escape from
beneath the lace mantilla.

Petra.

Life force flowing through

My veins,

My arteries,

My capillaries...

My heart.

Petra.

My great-great-grandmother.

Shrunken and shriveled.

Tough as well worn leather.

Petra.

Who saved her family from

Pandemic death

Abject poverty

And a revolution destined

To crumble her civilization

To strengthen her faith

To change the lives of her children

To change the lives of her grandchildren

To change my life.

Petra.

I hear her sometimes

Splitting the silence of night

In the rhythmic beating of my heart.

I close my eyes and

See the parched desert sands

(thump, thump)

Silhouettes there in the distance

Beyond the brilliant sun...

(thump, thump)

The Shepherdess

Petra.

She gathers her lambs

(thump, thump)

And they steal away

Run away from the past

To new life in a land of future promise

(thump, thump, thump)

Gypsies fleeing

Bedouins voyaging

Slaves sold into bondage...

(thump thump.)

Petra.

She speaks.

A melodic timber...sweet and gentle Spanish.

"Mija. Vivo en ti."

Her velvet brown eyes--my eyes.

An ephemeral flash--I see it all.

Petra.

The faces of her children.

The death of her husband.

The revolution. The soldiers.

The raping of girls.

The kidnapping of boys...

The fire consuming the ranch in Mexico.

The choice to leave.

The journey.

The struggle to survive.

Death, an enemy.

Survival.

Safety.

Insanity.

Pain

Illness.

Death, a friend.

Her velvet brown eyes--my eyes.

Petra.

She is my maternal voice.

The shepherdess within.

Urging me to gather lambs

And move them to safety.

Petra.

Demanding I live fiercely.

Petra.

Insisting I fight—

Fight for life with all that I am…and have.

I feel the blood coursing faster.

Red. passion.

Red. fire.

Red.

Mexican Indian
Curandera blood...
Burning
Red. Flames.
Mescal. flowing.
Vivo en ti.
Vives en mi.

Petra.


Recipe: Empanadas.

From what I hear, my great great grandmother was one hell of a cook. My great-grandmother (Petra's daughter) was well known for her empanadas. My dad told me they were some of the best he ever had. These are good...but I'll never know how her's tasted. Her recipe was never passed down. I would imagine she'd approve.



Empanadas (Mexican Turnovers) (Adapted from Elena's Famous Mexican and Spanish Recipes, Elena Zelayeta)

2 cups of flour (All Purpose)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup shortening (I use Smart Balance stick butter--it is 50% butter, 50% butter substitute)
1/3 cup ice water (approx.)
2 tsp baking powder

Sift flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Work in the shortening as you would for pastry. Ass just enough ice water to hold dough together. Roll out dough on a slightly floured board and cut into rounds 3-4 inches in diameter. Place a spoonful of filling on one half of the pastry, wet the edge with water, fold the other half of the pastry round over the filling and press edges together to seal (I use the tines of a fork to gently press them down--also looks decorative). Bake in a moderately hot oven (375 F) for 15-20 minutes, according to size. Makes about 12 empanadas. (You may also fry empanadas until golden brown.)


Fillings:
You may make either savory or sweet empanadas. I'm a huge fan of the sweet pumpkin empanadas and HATE sweet bean empanadas (not getting that recipe from me!). Though, you may make apple, cherry, mixed berry, pineapple...the possibilities are endless. I offer a few ideas:

Savory:
Refried beans and cheese.
Use your imagination...chicken, green chile, and cheese; pork & chile...experiment.

Sweet:
Cajeta de Camote con Pina (Sweet Potato and Pineapple Pudding)
2 c. mashed cooked sweet potatoes
1 c. sugar
1c. crushed pineapple, drained
3/4 c. blanched almonds, ground fine.

Mix all ingredients together and cook over low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until the bottom of the pan may be clearly seen. Place in serving dish and chill before serving. (Can be used as empanada filling or eaten separately.)


Mixed berry and apple filling: (adapted from Molly53's Berry Empanada Recipe #99408 on Recipezaar.com)

1 pkg frozen blueberries or mixed berries (I use the triple berry mix from Trader Joe's)
1 large apple, peeled & finely chopped
1/4 cup of walnuts
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbsp flour
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp vanilla
dash of salt

Mix apple, walnuts, sugar, flour, cinnamon, vanilla and salt in a med. bowl. Combine well. Mix in berries.

(1-2 spoonfuls of this mixture will fit into the empanada rounds)

Pumpkin:
A lovely lady from Indiana named Julie passed her pumpkin filling recipe on to me (she included it as part of a pie recipe she was sharing). Rather than using it for pie, I used it for the empanadas.

Preparing pumpkin:

1 small pumpkin will make about 2 pies. (4cups of pumpkin)
Cut your pumpkin in half. (Stem to base)
Scoop out all the seeds and strands.
Place on a baking sheet lined with foil with the inside face down.
Bake at 375 degrees about an hour until you can slide a fork through it.
Take it out and let it cool slightly to the touch.
Separate all the meat from the shell by Scooping it out and placing pumpkin meat in a bowl.
Throw a way the shell.
Chop up pumpkin meat and set a side in the frig until it cools

Preparing filling
Ingredients per pie:

2 Cups of fresh pumpkin (see above)
1 1/2 Cups of evaporated milk
1/4 Cup of brown sugar (you can use either dark or light - dark will make the coloring of your pie darker. I like the dark)
1/2 Cup Sugar
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ginger
1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg or allspice
1/2 teaspoon cloves
2 slightly beaten eggs

Mix until well blended.

Obviously, there is much more filling than is necessary for 12 empanadas...make more empanadas or use the rest of the filling for pie. :)

You can use canned pumpkin and then add the spices from Julie's pumpkin pie recipe, too.

You can also use canned pumpkin pie filling (NOT canned pumpkin--you want the stuff with the pie spices in it already) if you are the type who burns water. I know a more than a few people (who I love dearly) that I would never allow in my kitchen unsupervised...