From Argentina With Love

Empanada of the Month--Potato Picante Empanadas

In the infatuation stage of my courtship with Guillermo, I did all those sweet, silly things that smitten people do, namely, learning to cook recipes I wouldn't normally make, just to woo and impress the object of my affection.  Only, I'm still doing it, and I really like it.  When I decide things between us were likely to continue on a permanent basis, I started filling a little book with our favorite recipes of those early days, accompanied by wine labels from the bottles we enjoyed with the meal, painstakingly removed by soaking them in hot water.

When Esteban came along, the recipe book started getting filled with recipes we liked that were clipped out of magazines.  But this recipe, for empanadas filled with shredded potato and ground beef, is from the front-of-the-book, aka "Guillermo and Rebecca, the Early Days".  It's evolved over the years with my experience of eating more empanadas and getting a sense of what they should taste like, these are peppery and dense.  The potato adds something different, and personally, I prefer making them with ground turkey for a change from beef.

When we first made these, Guillermo took photos and sent them to his mom, who was worried about her son being so far away in the U.S. with nobody to cook for him!  The caption could have said, "Look mom!  I found one who can cook--and she's American!!"  And so started the influx of Florencia's recipes to me.  (Many of those are in the book, too--I copied them, in Spanish, from her emails, hoping that someday, our gloriously bilingual children would savor every recipe from their Mom and Papi's own little recipe book.)  I hope you enjoy them, too!

A note about Empanada of the Month: I didn't receive any entries this month to post a round-up about!  So this month I'm just posting a recipe rather than making it a monthly event.  If you would like another event, or would like an event where everyone does their own recipe, or have a different idea, please leave me a comment, or drop me an email!  Alternatively, I'll just post a great Empanada recipe every month!  Thanks!

Receta Para Empanadas de Papas y Carne Picante

Recipe For Peppery Potato and Meat Empanadas

2 medium potatoes, peeled and boiled for 5 minutes

1 tablespoon olive oil, plus more as needed

1 pound ground beef or turkey

1 medium onion, chopped

3/4 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon hot paprika

salt to taste

lots of black pepper

hard-boiled egg, sliced

green olives, pitted and sliced length-wise

1 egg, lightly beaten

Grate the potatoes into a medium bowl and set aside.  Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium heat.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the ground meat and brown it, separating with a flat spatula as necessary to make small bits.  If you are using ground turkey, you may find it helpful to add more oil and even a few tablespoons of milk to keep the turkey form drying out as it cooks.  Add the potato, spices, salt and pepper.  Stir to incorporate.  Remove from the heat and let cool.

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Use pre-cut empanada rounds, or your own home-made empanada rounds.  On a floured work surface,  set out several empanada rounds.  Put about 2 tablespoons filling in the center, of each round and place a slice of egg and an olive slice on top of the meat mixture. Seal by folding the empanada shell over into a half moon shape (wet edges of one half with a few drops of water)  Seal by pressing around the edges firmly with your finger.  Cup the filling inside the empanada shell with your hands, making the filling inside kind of ball together.  Then fold the edges over, almost as you would a pie-crust, twisting up one small edge, and pressing down firmly, then repeating the action until you have reached the other end of the empanada. This method is called repulgue, you can watch the video of how to do it here. Alternatively, press the edges all around with a fork, making a fork pattern.

Place the empanadas about an inch apart on a floured cookie sheet.  Brush the tops with a beaten egg.  Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until crust outside is golden.

Empanada of the Month Round Up #1!

I am so proud of everyone who participated in From Argentina With Love's very first Empanada of the Month event!!  There are some fearless recipe makers out there in the blogosphere, some who are long time empanada makers, and others who had never made empanadas before and took the challenge.  And the results are simply mouth-watering!  They look delicious. Thank you for joining in and making this blog's first event a success!  So without further ado-here are the entries for Empanadas Mendocinas-Empanada of the Month #1!

Paz from The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz created these beauties:

And although she was very doubtful of her empanada making skills-I think they look fantastic!  (I wanted to eat them right off my computer screen.)

Brilynn from Jumbo Empanadas made these lovelies:

With a name like that, how could you go wrong?  Brilynn posts about how her blog got it's name, and she even made the dough from scratch-I'm very impressed!

Sandy from Real Food for Real People made these tasty morsels:

Sandy's father was a chef from Buenos Aires-and she gives a great dough recipe in her post-check it out!

Layla from Laylita's Recipes made these delectable treats:

Originally from Ecuador, Layla has a whole category of her blog dedicated to empanadas!  She is one of those gals who does every recipe astoundingly well, and yet makes it look like it was nothing at all.  I am always amazed when I read her blog!

Nikki from Canary Girl made these mouth-watering bites:

She lives in the Canary Islands, where she has sampled the same type of empanadas at a local Italian restaurant run by Argentineans!  They look WONDERFUL, Nikki-thanks for joining us!!

I hope I didn't leave anybody out!  I know there were a few people who wanted to participate but weren't able to-if I left you out by mistake, please let me know and I'll add you in!!  If you didn't make it this month, I hope you'll participate in next month's Empanada of the Month Round Up-to be announced in the coming week.  Thanks!

Empanada of the Month! Empanadas Mendocinas

In my former life, (before the glamour of food blogging) if you can believe it, I was a public school teacher! I taught with a lovely Argentinean woman named Carina, and we became fast friends.  We pored over lesson plans together, graded papers together, and commiserated over our difficulties together. Though neither of us are teachers now, over the years our friendship has continued. Carina and her husband Julio are both from Mendoza, like my husband. They recently invited us to their home for a tutorial on how to make authentic Empanadas Mendocinas-Mendoza style empanadas.  Now this was a lesson I wouldn't mind sinking my teeth into!

What sets Mendoza-style empanadas apart from others is that they are baked rather than fried. The typical filling is seasoned ground beef with a slice of green olive and a slice of hard-boiled egg. They are sealed with a special technique called 'repulgue', in which the edges of the empanada are folded and pressed over and over again to create a pattern. You can see this technique (as well as how to pack the filling into the empanada and seal it) in the video below. (That's Carina narrating in Spanish.)

The crusts (or shells) of the empanada are called tapas (think lids  rather than appetizers) and are sold in most Latin markets in the frozen section. They come in packets of one dozen-the best brands are La Salteña or Goya. There are two styles of tapas-estilo criolla or estilo hojaldre (which is preferable because it has a flakier crust). If you are determined to make your empanadas entirely from scratch, Layla has a great tapas recipe.

I love empanadas so much that I've decided that it's time this blog host an event! So read on for the details:

I'm hosting Empanada of the Month as a monthly event-and I'd love you all to participate! This event is all about Empanadas-whether they're sweet or savory, and here's the idea: every month I'll post a new empanada recipe for you to make at home. You make it, send me a photo, and post about it on the round-up date. The deadline to participate in this event is June 8th, 2008. I'll do a round-up on June 12th to showcase all the entries-I just can't wait to see how they turn out!! My email:rebeccatcaro AT hotmail DOT com (and please feel free to email me your own empanada suggestions, too-I'd love to use them in a future event! ) This month's recipe is the classic mendocino empanada.

Receta por Empanadas Medocinas de la familia Oliva-Quiroz

Mendocino Empanadas from the Oliva-Quiroz family

For the filling:

2 lbs. ground beef

1 cup shortening or lard (you can add less or omit this if necessary)

2 lbs. onion

3 Tablespoons smoked paprika

4 teaspoons cumin

green olives, pitted and cut into slices, as many as is necessary

3 hard-boiled eggs, cut into rounds

salt and pepper to taste

crushed red pepper, to taste

For the construction: A glass of water 1 egg, beaten flour for the pan The meat can be made a day in advance. Put the onions, sliced finely in rounds, in a frying pan and salt them. Add the ground beef and cook, then add salt and pepper to taste. Next add the lard and mix well, so that it's incorporated-the lard, the meat and the onion together. when it's all cooked, add the crushed red pepper (to taste) and the cumin and mix well. When the mix is ready, let cook and add the paprika and stir well.

The assembly: Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Put the tapas on a flat surface, lightly floured. With a tablespoon, put a little of the meat filling in the center of the dough round. Add a slice of the olive and a piece of the hard boiled egg.

Then moisten the edge on the top half of the round with a little water on your finger. Fold the bottom half of the dough up until the edges meet and seal with your fingers by pressing down. The empanada should have a half-moon shape.

Use the palms of the hands to pack the filling firmly in the center. Next, fold the edges with the Repulgue: using your fingertip, fold one corner of the empanada over, pressing down firmly. Go to the edge again and repeat, pressing firmly each time. Go around the edge of the empanada and you'll get a spiral pattern.

Beat an egg in a shallow dish and paint the top of each sealed empanada so that when they bake, they have a shiny, golden shell. Spread flour lightly over several cookie sheets, and place the finished empanadas on top. Put the empanadas in to bake for 12 to 15 minutes-they should be sizzling and very golden brown on top. Take out and eat very carefully while hot!