Eggplant Turnovers (Empanadas de Berenjenas)

I'm still playing with Gil Marks' Olive Trees and Honey and got a bit excited by the section on savory turnovers.  Yes, a section on turnovers!!!  You may be laughing at this point, but if you are then that means you have never had a pasty or an empanada!  I've always hated the phrase, "you don't know what you are missing" because it seems pretty redundant. If you've never had a savory turnover, you've never enjoyed this neat and portable meal that can be eaten hot or cold and one-handed too! 

My first experience with these hand-held wonders was in elementary school.  My class had a Heritage Day where each person brought in a meal that exemplified our culture.  I brought in Matzo Ball Soup made by my Mom.  My crush's mom sent in her family's Argentinian Empanadas which blew my mind. It had things I had never heard of people eating, and probably only tried it to impress him with my foodie-ness.  They were so good, that my mom got the recipe and made them about once a year from then on.  (She also makes fun of me on a yearly basis for my crush on the boy.)  My dad's co-workers even began requesting extras when it was Empanada day. 

When I went to college, it finally dawned on me that empanadas were just savory turn overs and could be anything.  Going to school in Tampa, Florida I learned to love guava and cheese pocket pies, Indian potato and pea samosas and Jamaican Jerk Beef Patties.  Now that I am a grown up with my own kitchen, I have been looking for interesting hand-held lunch options I can make myself.  I spend lunch time in my car about once a week due to my career and having these little beauties in reserve for those days will save me from Drive-Thru window regret. 

The original recipe was strictly eggplant and tomato, which bothered me.  If I'm going to eat this for a meal, it needs to have protein.  I get cranky when I am hungry, and what I do involves a lot of talking to other professional staff, teenagers and judges.  If I'm cranky, I look unprofessional.  Never be more cranky than a teenager!  Especially in front of a Judge.  Adding mashed white beans to the mix made it more substantial, but it muddled the pure flavor of eggplant and tomato.  So I added cumin and smoked paprika to round it all out and it ended up heightening the flavoring and being a unifying note. Also, I cook with eggplant a lot and I never salt it first, but I wanted to draw out as much liquid as possible today since it was a filling today and needed to be dry.  The cookbook gave great looking recipes for turnover doughs, but I made turnover dough once and just didn't feel like doing it today.  Frozen Goya empanada dough to the rescue.  It's pre-rolled and separated.  It's definitely a processed food, but sometimes even I make concessions to speed.  When hubby came home and saw these sitting on the counter cooling, his first comment was "that's what smells so good" and his second was "wow, that looks good."  Yeah, he is awesome too.  :)

Ingredients:
2 large eggplants, peeled and cut into half-inch pieces
1 large onion, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, chopped and seeded
2 cups cannelini beans
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
Salt
Pepper
Olive Oil

Recipe:
After peeling and chopping the eggplant, put the eggplant in a colander over a bowl and toss it with salt.  Let it sit for one hour.

Blot the eggplant with paper towels until dry to the touch.   Saute the onions in olive oil on medium high heat for about fifteen minutes, until golden brown.  Add the beans, eggplant and tomato along with the cumin, smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until dry and reduced into a chunky mash.  Set aside to cool.

Fill each turnover round with about 2 tablespoons of filling, fold it over and pinch the edges closed.  Using the tines of a fork to press the edges gives it a nice look in addition to ensuring the edges are completely sealed.