Empanadas!

Empanadas are sort of the unofficial "snack" of Argentina. You will find them on menus in the least to the most expensive restaurants here. Although the ingredients and styles vary from region to region, the empanada is made with a round piece of dough that is stuffed with beef, chicken, ham & cheese, onion & cheese, tuna, or any other imaginable combination of ingredients.

For those of you who know me well, you know I am not a domestic person and can barely fry a hamburger or make scrambled eggs, let alone do something as intricate as preparing an empanada. So when one of my friends from Buenos Aires, Gabriel, found out that I did not know how to cook, he held a gun to my head (not literally) and told me that he would teach me.

So, a few days later, I get an email with a list of ingredients to buy that included onions (cebollas), olives (aceitunas), potatoes (papas), chives (cebollas verduras - or green onions), cumin, eggs (juevos), 500 grams of chopped beef (nalga), tomatoes (tomates), butter (manteca) and dough (tapas de empanadas). That night after buying the groceries (and some beer to drink while we made the empanadas), we began the arduous process.

First, you have to cut the onions, chives, potatoes, and tomatoes up into small pieces. While doing that, you have to boil 2 eggs (keeping one aside). After the potatoes are chopped, you put them in cold water with vinegar and heat them but turn the heat off before they start to get soft. Then you drain the water and set them aside. While the potatoes are cooling, you add some cooking oil to a pan and fry the onions and chives, adding some sugar to the mix (I honestly forget why, but I was given a valid reason at the time!). Once that is all done, the beef is added into the frying pan and cooked just until it becomes brown (it is later placed in the oven so it doesn't have to be fully cooked). Once the beef is brown, the mixture can cool off for a bit, then the tomatoes and chopped up boiled eggs can be added.

Now, the tough part begins. Once the mixture (see pot above) has cooled, it is time to place portions of it into the center of the tapas de empanadas. But, before just plopping a spoonful down, you have to wet the borders of the tapas to make them sticky. Then you plop a spoonful of the mix into the center and carefully bring the borders together. Every place that makes empanadas has a different style for each flavor and some can get rather intricate in their design.

Once we made 15 of them (they come 12 to a pack, but they had a special where they threw in 3 extras for free), it was almost time to bake them. Throughout the process, I noticed there was one extra egg just sitting on the counter and I now found out why. Before baking the empanadas, you take a raw egg, stir it, then take a paintbrush (or in our case a paper towel) and basted the dough. That gives it a shine when it bakes and adds a little bit of extra flavor.

Well, about 15 minutes later, the masterpieces were ready and they actually turned out really good. But, after evaluating the manpower and cost involved in making my own empanadas, it is still cheaper to buy a dozen in a confiteria (bakery) or restaurant. At least I can always make them if the restaurants ever go on strike!