Have you ever read a recipe where the ingredients seem right….but the execution just seems horribly wrong?

The other day I was looking for something in…you know THAT room?  Otherwise known as the room where we dumped all the crap we didn’t have a specific home for when we first moved in.  Nearly a year later?  It’s all still there.  Thank the Lord for whoever invented doors.  It makes it so much easier to metaphorically close the door and walk away from the room when you can literally close the door and walk away from the room.

I didn’t find what I was looking for in the room, because most things that go in there don’t come out.  What I did find was a manilla folder full of old recipe clippings which included one for something called for Trout and Mascarpone Triangles.

Before we get to the point does anyone else have problems spelling mascarpone?  For some reason in my mind it’s marscapone. I also can’t say the word “Preliminary” – that one just ends up a hot mess of r’s and l’s where they shouldn’t be.

But anyway, immediately in my head, (yeah the same one that can’t spell ma-scar-pone or pronounce pre-lim-in-ary) I had a vision of what these would be.  They would look like exactly like these:

Hmm…except….maybe a little more triangular.

So, I was bitterly disappointed when I actually read the recipe and found it was nothing like that.

In fact, that whole recipe annoyed the hell out of me.  In most cooking circles when you call something an X & Y triangle it’s pretty much a given that the X and Y are IN the triangle. Take these delicious looking cheese and spinach triangles from taste.com.au.    Spinach and Cheese both EXACTLY where they should be i.e. inside the pastry triangle.

That is what I wanted from my trout and mascarpone triangles! Golden puff pastry filled with chunks of gorgeous pink smoked trout, creamy mascarpone, fresh herbs, a touch of chilli….that was what my mind told me a Trout and Mascarpone Triangle could, and should, be.

At best the original recipe is for trout and mascarpone ON triangles.  And who the hell wants that?  No one that’s who.  I’m calling shenanigans on that recipe.

In some circles they say, if you can’t beat ’em, join ’em.  In my circle I say if you think their recipe is a crock, make it like you think it should have been.  And while we’re in the spirit of rebellion –  the fancy pants Italian cheese I can’t be bothered writing the name of (because I would only have to re-write it to spell it correctly) can go fuck itself too. I’m using good old Philadelphia Cream Cheese.  Which I forgot to take a photo of.  The rest of the stuff is here:

I used a smoked trout, you could sub in smoked salmon if you prefer or cook a fillet of fish as per the original recipe.  Or even used canned salmon or tuna to make these.  Up to you.  And I had an empanada maker thing but you could make triangles as per the original recipe.  Or embrace the spririt of doing it your way and make them any shape you want!

If you are going to use an empanada maker, here’s how you do it from an expert,Connie Veneracion.  Shame I didn’t read this until after I had made mine and hence some of mine were a little…shall we call them rustic?     😉

How To Use An Empanada Maker

And here is the revised, and in my not so humble opinion, vastly improved recipe!

Enjoy!

Smoked Trout Empanadas

Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 400 smoked trout or cooked fish of choice
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 100g cream cheese, chopped into a small cubes
• 1 canned chipotle chilli and approx 1 tbsp of the adobo sauce it came in
• 1 tbsp dill
• 1 tbsp parsley
• 2 sheets ready rolled puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• poppy seeds and chilli flakes to garnish (optional)

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Instructions

1. If using a smoked trout, remove the skin and flake the flesh from the bones. Place this in a bowl with the cream cheese, red onion, lemon juice, chilli, dill and parsley. Mix lightly to combine.
2. Preheat your oven to 200C and line a baking tray with baking paper.
3. Cut four circles out of each of your pastry sheets, using your empanada maker or tracing around a small plate or cup.
4. Place 1 tbsp of the trout mixture in the middle of each circle then fold the pastry over to seal in the filling.
5. Crimp the edges to seal.
6. Place on the baking tray and brush with the beaten egg.
7. Sprinkle with the poppy seeds and chilli flakes if using.
8. Cook for 15 minutes or until puffed up and golden.

Lesson of the week – if you don’t like it, change it.

Have a fabulous week and fight the power!