the thrifty crafter

My recent book club read, Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende, inspired me to host a themed book club last month.  Set in the mid 19th century, it is the story of a young Chilean girl, Eliza Sommers, who is raised by a well-to-do British family in Valparaiso, Chile.  At 16, Eliza finds her first love in Joaquin Andieta, a young man who, like many Chileans at the time, takes off to California to seek his fortune in the gold rush.  Months later, Eliza follows him, and in an elusive search for her lover, embarks upon a journey of self-discovery.

This novel is full of inspiration when it comes to hosting a themed book club evening.  There are many images and elements from the story to draw upon: Chile itself, the Victorian clothing of the period which incorporated lace, gold to symbolize the Gold Rush, luxuries to Chileans at the time, including chocolate, and the fact that our heroine is an incredible chef and baker and resourcefully makes empanadas while in California as a means to a living.

For our meeting, I served Chilean wine, empanadas, and an olive and spanish cheese plate with marcona almonds and black grapes.  We finished the evening with Martha’s devil’s food chocolate cupcakes with a velvety smooth dark chocolate ganache frosting. While the idea of topping my cupcakes with a sprinkle of edible gold leaf was divine, the $28 price tag from Sur la Table didn’t make it thriftycrafter friendly, so I had to omit it!

Gold chargers, crisp white plates and black lace adornments decorated the table and super easy to make hand-fashioned wine charms (this is, after all, a wine, er, book club!), marked our glasses. Finally, I made a simple garland out of leftover gold Christmas ribbon and white paper doilies from the Dollar Tree.  Thanks to apartmenttherapy.com for the inspiration!

First, the crafts!

Wine Charms

Here’s what you need:

• cardstock
• eyelet stickers (alternatively, you could use a stamp or these great rub-ons from Paper Source)
• compass with pencil
• scissors
• hammer, nail and wooden block
• jewelry ear wires
• gel pen or other marker for writing

Here’s what you do:

1. Use your compass to create circles on cardstock.  I made mine with a radius of 5/8 of an inch.

   

2. Cut out circles and adhere lace stickers to cover just more than half of the circle.

   

3. Cut excess edge of sticker and write your characters’ names below the arc.

   

4. Use hammer, nail and wooden block to pierce tag where you want your ring to go.

   

5. Use wire bending tool to bend end portion of your hoop up to create lock and feed through hole in tag.

   

Cost: less than $5!

Doily Garland

Here’s what you need:

• paper doily pack
• stitch witchery
• iron and ironing board
• 1/2 inch width ribbon or thicker
• scissors or Fiskars paper trimmer

Here’s what you do:

1. Use scissors or paper trimmer to cut doilies in half.

   

2. Rip stitch witchery in pieces that measure the diameter of your doily, place between the ribbon and doily, and use iron on low setting to adhere.

   

3. Repeat until desired length of garland is achieved!

Cost: less than $3!

Adorned Cake Plate

Here’s what you need:

• cake plate
• strip of lace, in the measured circumference of your cake platter
• Zots

Here’s what you do:

1. Adhere Zots to cake plate rim every 1.5-2 inches.

   

2. Starting with one end of your strip of lace, press lace against zots, keeping correct amount of slack, until lace band encircles your platter.

Cost: less than $5!

Now, onto the food!

I used an empanada dough recipe found on Epicurious.com for my mini empanaditas, a beef filling recipe from Susan Feniger (of Border Grill and Ciudad fame) and a pork filling recipe from Food & Wine Magazine.

Empanada Dough:

Doubling the recipe made just under 4 dozen 3.5 inch empanaditas

Beef Filling:

Makes enough for 4 dozen mini empanadas (I halved the recipe to make two dozen)

• 1 pound lean ground beef
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/3 cup toasted almonds coarsely chopped
• 1/3 cup dark raisins
• 8 Italian Roma tomatoes
• 3 serrano chilies
• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
• Sea salt, to taste
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1. In a large heavy skillet, over a medium high heat, saute the ground beef until the meat is browned, about 6 to 8 minutes. Drain off the excess fat.
2. Add the onion and saute 2 minutes. Then add the garlic, almonds, and raisins, and saute 1 minute.
3. Place the tomatoes, chilies, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a blender and puree until smooth.
4. Add the puree, cumin, cloves, cinnamon and salt and pepper to the skillet and cook for about 5 minutes to get rid of any excess liquid. Cool.
5. Place a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle of pastry. Fold over the pastry and seal the edges. Let the empanadas rest in the refrigerator 1/2 hour or freeze immediately. (Bake the frozen empanadas without defrosting.)
6. Empanadas may be glazed (1 egg and 2 tablespoons milk, well beaten) and baked until golden in a 400 degree oven, for about 15 minutes.

Pork Filling:

Makes enough for 4 dozen mini empanadas (I halved the recipe to make two dozen)

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 large white onion, very finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 1/4 pounds pork tenderloin, finely chopped
• Salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup amber beer
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 1/2 teaspoons paprika
• 1 teaspoon Chinese chile-garlic paste or sambal oelek
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/2 jalapeño, seeded and very finely chopped
• 3 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped
• 6 pitted kalamata olives, thinly sliced
• 1 tablespoon golden raisins

1. In a medium skillet, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil. Add the onion and cook over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until softened and starting to brown, about 10 minutes. Stir in the sugar and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onion is browned, about 8 minutes longer.
2. Meanwhile in a large skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the remaining 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the chopped pork, season with salt and pepper and cook over high heat until the pork is golden brown on the bottom, about 4 minutes. Stir and cook until no pink remains, about 3 minutes longer. Stir in the browned onions, beer, soy sauce, paprika, chile paste, cumin and jalapeño and cook for 1 minute. Transfer the filling to a large bowl. Stir in the hard-cooked eggs, olives and raisins and season with salt and pepper.
3. Preheat the oven to 350°.
4. Brush the empanadas with the egg wash. Bake them for about 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheets halfway through, until the empanadas are golden brown, then serve.