City Times cooks up empanadas with campus-grown produce for the holidays

Producer: Sean Monney, CTM Multimedia Journalist
City Times MMJ Sean Monney hosted this Festive Foods edition of #CityCookingChallenge, joined by Brian Sanchez, a culinary student at Grossmont College and a cook at White Rice Bodega.
Sanchez and Monney cooked fried empanadas with a pan-seared zucchini filling along with a salsa verde and a prickly pear syrup drink.
The zucchini and other produce for the salsa and drink were provided by Seeds@City, an urban farm that grows on the campus of San Diego City College. Knights Table food pantry on campus provided the Hint Water.
Recipes:
01:44 Empanadas (makes about a dozen):
1. Dissolve 2 tsp of salt into 6 oz of warm water.
2. Mix 18 oz of flour with 6 oz of lard.
3. Add salted water slowly until the mixture forms a ball. Add more flour if the dough is too sticky and more water if not all the flour is incorporated.
4. Knead the dough on a lightly floured surface for 10 minutes until the dough is elastic and smooth.
5. Let the dough rest for at least 30 minutes.
6. Roll dough out on a lightly floured surface to ⅛ in thickness and use a large circular cutter to cut the dough into rounds.
7. For the filling, dice a large zucchini and sear over high heat. Add salt and pepper. Remove from heat when lightly browned.
8. Add zucchini to the center of dough rounds and fold in half, creasing the edge from one side to the other.
9. Place the empanada into a 350°F air fryer and air fry for 6 minutes or until crispy and cooked through.
05:30 For the salsa verde:
1. Peel 3 garlic cloves and add them whole to a hot pan or over an open flame. Add 6 tomatillos and 12 serrano peppers, also whole.
2. Char until some edges become blackened.
3. Mash garlic first, then peppers then tomatillos into a salsa.
07:40 For the tuna (prickly pear cactus fruit) drink:
1. Cut the skin off the tuna.
2. Push it through a mesh strainer with a spoon to remove the seeds and pulp.
3. Add the juice to high heat until it begins to bubble.
4. Add to water and add sugar as desired.
For more information on Brian Sanchez: / 13ri_n
For more information on Seeds@City: www.sdcity.edu...
To view the transcript: otter.ai/u/JSk...
Host/Producer: Sean Monney
Director: Josblan Chavez
Technical Director: Tresean Osgood
Cameras: Ryan Matthysse and Marco Guajardo
City Cooking Challenge and CTTV are part of City Times Media, award-winning, student-produced digital news, TV news, magazine, radio/podcast and indie film, all on one platform at San Diego City College. CTM offers hands-on experience for students using new and emerging technologies in state-of-the-art facilities.
To read more, visit sdcitytimes.com.