A Twist on A Reuben

Photograzing is such an inspiration to me. Sometimes all I need is to see a photo and my brain starts creating recipes. While perusing the site after St Patrick's Day, I was reminded that there was still a hunk of corned beef left in the fridge, however, the rye bread I had made was long gone. The newest batch of bread dough was earmarked for rolls, and um, I really have a hard time eating store-bought bread anymore (except good whole-grain sandwich bread for toast), but I did have some pie crusts in the fridge. Yeah, I don't yet make my own pie crust (no counter space for rolling dough) so I'll eat the stuff from the dairy case, particularly if it's not Pillsbury. Anyway...after the quick mental fridge inventory, a vision of corned beef empanadas danced in my head. Then I found a recipe for a Reuben sandwich made with both sauerkraut AND kimchi, which led me to create this multi-cultural dish.

Korean-style Reubenadas

1/2 cup kimchi, chopped (I used King's brand mild kimchi, bought at my local Giant)
2 cups coarsely chopped napa cabbage
salt
1/2 lb corned beef, shredded
2 tablespoons shredded swiss cheese
4 pinches of caraway seeds
1 prepared pie crust

A few hours ahead of time, mix the chopped kimchi and napa, sprinkle with a 1/4 teaspoon or so of salt. Allow to sit at room temperature. When ready to use, squeeze dry and discard juices.

Preheat oven to 450F. Unroll pie crust onto a work surface. With a rolling pin, roll out dough until it's about an inch or so larger in overall diameter. Cut into quarters with a knife.

On each quarter, place 1/4 each of the corned beef and Swiss cheese and top with about a tablespoon of kimchi and one pinch of the caraway seeds.

Fold up the three points and pinch edges together to form a roughly triangular package. You'll have to do some folding and crimping to get the edges to stick properly. If you're anal about these things, you can help the edges adhere by making an egg wash with 1 egg and 1 teaspoon of water, brushing it along the edges of the dough before forming the package.

Use the remaining egg wash as a glaze on the outsides of the packages. Bake them at 450F for 20 minutes or until golden brown.

Serve with gochujang dressing. Serves 2.

Gochujang Dressing
3 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 tablespoon gochujang sauce
1 teaspoon sweet pickle relish or 1 sweet gherkin, chopped fine
pinch celery seed
squeeze lime juice

Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Posted by theminx on Minxeats.com.