Puff Pastry

This weekend, the question "Which came first - the empanada or the pasty?" popped into my head, as I've been thinking about puff pastry and how it's my new favorite thing.

It seems that one of the earliest mentions of a pasty was found in a 13th century charter granted by Henry III to the town of Great Yarmouth. It said, "The town is bound to send to the sheriffs of Norwich every year one hundred herrings, baked in twenty four pasties, which the sheriffs are to deliver to the lord of the manor of East Carlton who is then to convey them to the King".

The word "empanada" comes from the Spanish word "empanar", meaning to wrap or coat in bread. It's thought that empanadas developed in Spain or the Middle East (depending on who's telling the story), but the general consensus is that they were carried around the world by travelers. I'd need to dig a little deeper to find out who first traveled where (or who first invaded who) to make guesses on how such similar foods developed in such different areas of the world.

The great thing is that most cultures have some kind of filling-wrapped-in-dough dish, including kibbe from Lebanon (one of my favorite dishes), samosas from India and Pakistan, and calzones from Italy. You could also, perhaps, claim that Pop Tarts are the equivalent in the States. Which may be very mean and culturally insensitive (of my own culture) of me.

Pop Tarts are what I thought of when I made these yesterday and ate one for breakfast this morning. I stuffed puff pastry with a mixture of blackberry and apricots, mixed with lemon zest and brown sugar and baked them until they started to puff. Mountain Man and I tried to eat them with forks yesterday - but they were calling out to be eaten by hand.

I wrapped the leftovers in foil, and Mountain Man and I ate more for breakfast this morning. I noted that they reminded me of Pop Tarts, and MM replied "Yes, but with all organic material!"

Delicious. You're not getting a recipe just yet since I do think they'd benefit from the addition of a crunchy something - I'm leaning towards chopped walnuts. A project for this weekend, I think...