Living Within Our Means: 14 March 2010

I just read back my last blog entry and found myself laughing.  Jon says it will make people think we're rich, and that thought alone was enough to crack me up.

The reality is that while we were certainly consuming more than our share, our gluttony was scaled to fit our incomes which, while far in excess of the Mexican national average, were relatively modest by U.S. standards and certainly by the standard set by most of the seasonal residents of San Pancho.

We were never unhappy with how much we had, even when we had very little.  Somehow we always managed to break even, no matter how little or how much we had.  As the amount we earned increased over the years, we adjusted our spending upward even as we told ourselves that the only reason to push hard and earn more was to save and make up for the lean years when there was nothing to put away for the future.

Oddly enough, the result is that we've gotten very good at budgeting and balancing, even if not at saving.  Here in Mexico, this budget balancing skill is coming in handy.  In addition to juggling bills and income, there are lots of little things that we do to save what money we do have, some of which we do only sporadically and some which are becoming part of a regular routine, like making lists of everything in the fridge so that we don't need to waste electricity in order to know what's in there, or washing and reusing aluminum foil until it is spent, and then using the spent foil to scour cast iron pans.  All of these little things along with just buying less, buying cheaper, and eating only as much as we need to eat and not just as much as we would like, add up to the ability to live on about $12,000 U.S. a year, not counting the extras like trips, Spanish lessons, and the occasional treat like a party or a night out, a bottle of wine or a novel.  

Because we are able to live on so much less, we have the freedom to do much more.  We can take chances and be creative, and we have a lot more leisure time.  It's a pretty good deal.  

Of course, it means I've gotten used to chewy chicken.   I've also gotten very friendly with the bean pot, and I've developed quite a large, albeit gas inducing, repertoire of bean dishes.  

Here's my favorite one for empanadas stuffed with black beans.  I've posted one before, but this is better.  It's a little richer (both in fat and expense) than my usual bean dishes, but it's very good and relatively economical.  It makes 20 empanadas, so cut the recipe down for a family sized portion or freeze them before you bake and then thaw and use what you need.

The Dough:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup masa harina

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

3/4 cup water

1/2 stick of melted, unsalted butter plus some extra for greasing the pans

Egg for an egg wash

Sift together the dry ingredients and mix in the melted butter.  Add the water a little at a time until the dough is thoroughly mixed and forms a ball.  A half cup of water is often enough.  If it becomes sticky, you've added too much water.  You can fix this by dusting the dough with some flour and kneading it in until you achieve the right texture.  Refrigerate to chill.

Once the dough is chilled, you're ready to roll it out.  Use a rolling pin on a board dusted with a little flour to spread the dough to about a quarter inch thickness.  Then cut the dough into 4 inch rounds with a biscuit cutter or the top of a glass jar dipped in flour to prevent sticking.  Alternatively, you can do what we do and use a tortilla press to form the rounds.  Just take about two tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball and then place it on a tortilla press covered with plastic wrap.  Fold the plastic wrap over to cover the top of the dough ball leaving enough slack for the dough to spread, and then press, peel off the plastic, and fill.

The Filling:

5 cups of cooked black beans

8 ounces of queso fresco

We fill the empanadas with black beans that we stew ourselves, but canned black beans work just as well.  You will need five cups of black beans.  That's something like two and a half 16 ounce cans.    

If you use canned, just drain them, reserving the liquid that comes off, and then put about 1/3 in the blender.  Add the liquid back a little at a time as you puree so the blades of your blender keep moving.  Once you're done blending, add the puree back to the rest of the beans and discard the remaining liquid.  

If you'd rather cook them yourself, just soak dried black beans overnight in about twice as much water.  Drain and place in a pot with unsalted chicken stock or water to cover, half an onion, a whole stemmed and split jalapeno or serrano pepper, two or three crushed cloves of garlic, half of a peeled carrot, half of a stalk of celery, a large sprig of cilantro, a couple of whole, roasted tomatillos (do this with a dozen or so under the broiler in your oven, charring them slightly, and then freeze what you don't use), an avocado leaf of hoja santa if you have it or a bay leaf if you don't, and simmer until the beans are completely tender.  

At this point, I drain the beans, reserving the cooking liquid.  Discard the avocado or bay leaf and scoop the remaining flavoring ingredients into a blender with about 1/3 of the cooked beans.  Add just enough cooking liquid to keep the blades moving and puree.  Mix the puree back into the balance of the drained beans and add salt to taste.

Assembly:

Beat the egg and mix it with a tablespoon or so of water to make the glue that will hold your pastry together.  Drop 2 tablespoons of filling on each round of dough.  If you want, you can add a little queso fresco at this point.  Brush the edges with egg wash, and fold the dough over to form a half-moon shaped turnover.  Use the tines of a fork to press the edges together to form a strong seal.  

Covered the uncooked empanadas lightly with plastic wrap and put them into the refrigerator for at least half an hour.  Once properly chilled, assemble the empanadas on a baking sheet, brush the tops lightly with additional egg wash (to make them brown and appetizing looking), prick each pastry with the tines of a fork so the steam can escape, and bake in a 375 degree oven for about half an hour or until golden brown on the outside.  Don't forget to prick or the steam will cause your pastry to split along the seams or crack, and the filling will leak.  

Serve with salsa verde and cilantro sour cream (which is made with cilantro and sour cream, in case you were wondering).