Jamon, Artichoke & Manchego Empanadas

When I started thinking about my recent Spanish Feast, I knew that Empanadas were required as part of the menu. There is something so moreish about them, with their crisp flaky pastry goodness. What’s better than a little bite or two of pastry filled with savoury goodness? Not much I reckon!

I pondered quite a bit while deciding what filling to use for them. So many flavour options and all of them good! There were classic tuna options, vegetarian mixes along with chorizo filled goodness. However in the end I decided to keep it fairly simple with a mix of Jamon, Manchego and artichokes. They were perfect. Light and crisp, full of flavour with a lovely lemon zing and so very moreish which was what I wanted. And they paired perfectly with the other elements of the hot dishes that made up the main course of our feast. Delicious!

I had some fun cooking the first batch though when my oven decided to turn off for no reason part way through cooking. Not what is needed when cooking pastry or when you have guests arriving for dinner soon! Unfortunately it meant that the first batch ended up a little dry by the time we got the oven to stay on and the empanadas to cook properly. Thankfully the oven stayed on for my second batch and turned out just perfectly!