Broccoli, Mushroom, and Prosciutto Empanadas

I made my second attempt at Empanadas a while back. These brought rave reviews from the food critics (my husband and kids). My other empanada recipe has a Mexican flavor profile, this one is all about Italian yumminess.  I grew up in Santa Barbara and used to go to a restaurant there with my family called  Mariann’s Italian Villa. They made a calzone there that I loved. It had broccoli, mushrooms, and Italian cheeses. I pretty much duplicated it but added some prosciutto. It totally reminded me of that calzone I loved. In fact, this recipe would make a great calzone…just substitute pizza dough for the empanada wrappers. I served them with a zesty marinara sauce. These make great appetizers for a party or a yummy dinner with a salad!

*Please see my previous post on empanadas for info on wrappers and pictures of how to fold the empanada:  Chicken and Roasted Green Chili Empanadas

Broccoli, Mushroom, and Prosciutto Empanadas

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of mushrooms, roughly chopped (I used a package of sliced that I gave an additional rough chop to)
• 1 medium yellow or sweet onion, chopped small
• Olive Oil
• 2-3 garlic cloves, minced
• 8 ounce of broccoli florets, larger florets cut smaller
• 2 cups ricotta cheese (one small container)
• 1 cup of shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh Italian parsley
• salt and pepper
• 1  three ounce pack of sliced prosciutto
• 1 pack empadada wrappers
• 1 beaten egg (for an egg wash to give a nice golden color)

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

In a large skillet, saute the onion in a couple of turns of olive oil for about 10 minutes. Add the mushrooms and saute until they give off their liquid, about 7 minutes. Season with salt and pepper and add the garlic and saute a few more minutes. Turn the heat up so that you cook off any of the liquid that the mushrooms give off.  Once the liquid has cooked off, turn off the heat and let cool. While the onions/mushrooms cook, blanch the broccoli in a pot of boiling salted water. Cook for only a minute or 2, then shock in a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking and keep the broccoli nice and bright green. Let dry on paper towels.
In a medium mixing bowl, combine the cooled onion/mushroom mixture, the blanched and dried broccoli, the ricotta, mozzarella, parmesan, parsley, and season again with salt and pepper.  Take the prosciutto out of the package and cut each slice into smaller strips  and lay out on a cutting board. Now you are ready to assemble. Lightly flour a cutting board and lay out a few empanada wrappers. Place a couple a pieces of prosciutto down first then top with a couple of spoonfuls of filling. You can either do the traditional pinch and fold method or the fork press method to close. I love the way the look with the pinch/fold closure. Be careful not to over stuff. Put them on a cookie sheet covered in parchment paper and brush with the beaten egg. Bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Give them a while to cool and serve with marinara sauce of your choice.