Empadinhas de Frango

Ingredients

• 300 g wheat flour
• 180 g butter, cold and cut into small cubes
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp salt
• 400 g chicken breast
• 5 dl chicken stock
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1½ dl milk
• 2 tbsp cornstarch
• 80 g green olives, pitted and sliced
• 3 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. 1.

   Make the crumbly pastry — Rub the cold butter into the flour with half a teaspoon of the salt using your fingertips, until the mixture looks like coarse damp sand with a few pea-sized lumps left. Add the whole egg and bring the dough together with a few quick presses — do not knead it or the pastry loses its crumble.

2. 2.

   Chill the dough — Flatten the dough into a thick disc, wrap it and chill for 30 minutes, until it is firm but still yields to a thumb — cold enough to press into tins without tearing, soft enough not to crack.

3. 3.

   Poach and shred the chicken — Meanwhile, poach the chicken breast in the chicken stock at a bare tremble for 15 minutes, until just cooked through. Lift it out, pull it into fine shreds with two forks and keep the stock.

4. 4.

   Start the tomato base — Heat the olive oil in a saucepan and soften the onion for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and tomato paste and fry for 2 minutes until the paste turns brick red. Pour in 300 ml of the reserved stock and the milk and bring to a simmer.

5. 5.

   Thicken and cool the filling — Slake the cornstarch in a little cold water and whisk it in, then cook for 2 minutes until the sauce is thick enough to hold a line drawn across the base of the pan. Fold in the shredded chicken, olives, parsley, the remaining salt and the black pepper, and cool the filling completely before it goes near the pastry.

6. 6.

   Line, fill and cap the tins — Heat the oven to 190°C. Press two thirds of the dough thinly into twelve small tartlet tins, spoon in the cold filling and cap each one with a disc rolled from the remaining dough, pinching the edges to seal. Brush the tops with the beaten egg yolk.

7. 7.

   Bake and settle before turning out — Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until the tops are deep gold and the pastry has pulled slightly away from the rim of each tin. Leave the empadinhas in their tins for 10 minutes before turning them out, or the hot filling will push through the base.