photo by steveyb
On a trip to a call center in Buenos Aires I discovered my standard street food - the empanada. Every day I insisted that lunch start with yet another trip to the empanada stand downstairs. At a place that resembled a sparse McDonalds, I could get a variety of mostly meat pies, all made with a crispy crust and not terribly spicy filling. On return I started making them myself and found out how entirely flexible they are. Such a fantastic concept - not as much of a caloric investment as a meat pie and not as much of a time investment as a samosa. In the years that have passed since my decision to pursue empanadas I have made them with too many different fillings to remember.
The first and most important decision with empanadas is the filling. There are many choices and not many bad ones. The decision that is going to impact how much time it takes to make your empanadas is whether you want to use frozen pre-made shells or your own dough. There are some good examples in the Samosas post or you could use the one below. There is an example of this recipe all the way back to the Joy of Cooking.
If I am in a rush or feeling lazy, I keep some frozen shells on hand from La Salteña. I get them from my local Mediterranean deli/bakery. They are made in Argentina and work perfectly.
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Roll out a disc (or if going the lazy route, peel off a finished shell)
- Put some water around the lip of the empanada, then add a scoop of filling to the middle of the shell.
- Pull the dough over the filling and crimp the edge to close. I use an empanada cutter, but I have seen some interesting empanada presses on Amazon.
- Stretch a sheet of parchment paper onto a baking sheet and place the empanadas in rows. You can use a lightly greased baking sheet if you like.
- Cook the empanadas on the center rack for 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush with some olive oil.
- Return the baking sheet to the oven and bake until the empanadas are golden brown, usually about 15 minutes. Make sure that the dough is finished and not clear. If you are making your own dough (below), I give the empanadas a second brushing with oil 5 minutes before they are done.
Empanada Dough recipe
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 stick butter, room temperature
1 large egg
1/3 cup cold water
1 Tbsp distilled white vinegar
Directions
- Mix the flour and salt in a bowl.
- Add the butter to the flour a small chunk at a time, smashing the butter into the flour.
- Beat the egg with the water and vinegar.
- Add to the dough. Stir until everything is mixed.
- Take the dough and turn it a couple times to mix everything.
- Cool in a refrigerator until ready.