Empanadas de Choclo - Corn Empanadas

In summer, fresh corn makes The. Best. Empanadas. 

You just cut some corn off the cob, mix it with a stiff bechamel and a little cheese, fold them into the pastry, and bake at 400. For the pastry, you can buy tapas para empanadas at a Latin or Italian market, or click here for a recipe. For the bechamel and the rest of the filling, read on. This will probably leave some extra pastry, but you can fill that with a little ham and cheese or some fruit, whatever you have on hand. 

Thick Bechamel: 
-2 Tbsp butter
-2 Tbsp flour
-1 c milk
-1/2 tsp salt
-fresh nutmeg (a few gratings) or a small pinch ground nutmeg
-a little black pepper

Warm the milk but don't boil it. Melt the butter in a heavy saucepan over medium low heat. 

I've got a lightweight pan here because my heavier one still smells like star anise from the tea eggs...I'll use it a couple of times to boil pasta or rice and it'll be fine again. If you only have a light pan, keep a very close eye on the temp - nothing should brown. 

When the butter bubbles, whisk in the flour. 

Cook for about a minute, whisking all the while, and then ladle in some of the milk. 

I put in some milk and the steam covered the lens for a lovely dreamy photo. Adventures in photography! Ha!

Continue whisking. Mix in salt, pepper and nutmeg.  Ladle in more milk as it thickens up. 

After the last bit of milk, continue stirring for about one more minute. Then just turn off the heat and let it cool. 

Shuck four ears of corn  and cut the kernels off the cob. 

I use a big platter to catch most of the kernels because they tend to fly a bit. You could also use a clean kitchen towel or try this Bundt pan trick from Saveur - I didn't want to try it enough to dig out the Bundt pan, but let me know if you do!

Stir the corn into the cooled bechamel and grate in 1 or 2 oz Parmesan or Romano cheese. Taste the filling and adjust salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste - err on the side of a little too much, since you're putting this in a pastry. 




Cool the filling a little more - the cooler it is, the easier it will be to fill the pastry. Follow the directions on the Masa para Empanadas recipe to fill. If you chill it overnight, though, the corn will release more liquid and you'll have to drain it a bit before filling.