Our neighborhood’s Gourmet Group had another one of our dinner parties with the them: Gourmet Argentine Asado, which is an outdoor beef barbecue. All of the food at the party was excellent. I contributed the beef empanadas.
What are empanadas?
An empanada is a Spanish and Portuguese stuffed bread or pastry. The name comes from the verb empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. Empanada is made by folding a dough or bread patty around the stuffing. In Argentina, empanadas are often served at parties as a starter or main course.
How to make beef empanadas:
You begin by making the filling for the empanadas. Sauté onions and bell pepper until softened. Add the ground beef and cook until browned. Add green olives, golden raisins, cumin, honey, salt, pepper and hot sauce. Then you can set the filling aside and let it cool. You’ll add egg whites to the filling after it has had a chance to cool down.
Note about the filling:
Don’t be afraid of adding green olives and golden raisins.. Traditional Argentine empanadas have both in the filling. The flavors they impart are important to the whole. There’s a sweet element (from the raisins & the honey), a little bit of spice (from the hot sauce and cumin) and the briny olives bring the flavors all together.
While the filling is cooling, you can make the pastry. Follow the instructions in the recipe for making the dough. Then dump the dough onto a floured surface, divide into disks, wrap with plastic wrap and chill.
Roll out the chilled dough and cut into 4-inch rounds. I use a plastic bowl turned upside down to cut the right size. Just look in your plastic bowl/Tupperware collection to find one that works. You’ll place a round of dough onto a flat surface, rub the edges with water and put a spoonful of filling in the middle.
Follow the photos above to form the empanadas.
Then you’ll place them on a baking sheet, poke them with a fork and brush them with egg wash.
They’re awfully good when eating alongside a shot of tequila!
When I arrived at the party with my basket of empanadas, our Peruvian hostess exclaimed, “We must have them with lime! It is traditional!” (Picture that with a very heavy accent… my Peruvian friend is adorable). So we sliced up some lime and everyone got busy nibbling and squeezing lime onto each bite (in between doing shots of some very good tequila). They are so delicious.
Here are a few more Argentine recipes you might like to try:
Flan de Leche Grilled Aubergine and Peppers Hearts of Palm and Avocado Salad Argentine Alfajores Chimichurri Sauce
