When we spend the day kneading dough together or drawing a new family member closer by sharing an old family recipe. When we puzzle over a recipe and wonder how the art of cooking came so easily to those who came before us. Well, these are the ways in which we deepen our relationships to one another and uphold our traditions. Food lies at the heart of it all, as something we need for both physical and spiritual survival.
Case in point. I’ve spent the entire day making empanadas. The recipe is simple but the assembly arduous. Gilda (la Madrina) and I made the first few together while we sipped wine and contemplated the chemistry of pastry. But this recipe belongs to an auntie I acquired, along with several other lovable and adoring family members (most of whom hail from Argentina), when I married The Saint. My Tía Raquel and her sister (my mother-in-law) recently treated me to a talk about their childhood memories of Argentina:
Like the gift that keeps on giving, a discussion about food resulted in my Tía Raquel sharing her recipe for empanadas, a “comfort food” staple in many Latin American countries and Spain. Now, forever a food that will remind me of her and of this moment. The gesture of remembering together, sharing a recipe, cooking and talking — these are profound ways we strengthen our ties to one another, almost without even noticing we're doing it. Beautiful, isn't it?
| Raquel's Beef Empanadas |
Recipe Type: Appetizer
Ingredients
- Filling
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 cup chopped onions
- 1 cup chopped tomatoes
- 1 cup chopped green peppers
- 1 clove finely minced garlic
- 1½ teaspoons corn starch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon black pepper
- A “touch” of red pepper
- 1 cup of water
- 2 hard boiled eggs (optional)
- 1 egg yolk, beaten (optional)
- Dough
- 3 cups of flour (I used whole wheat flour here)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
Instructions
Filling
- Brown the beef over medium heat.
- Add the onion, green pepper, tomato and garlic.
- Cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally and until the onions are transparent. Stir in the corn starch, salt, sugar, and pepper.
- Continue cooking for another 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Here, I also added two chopped, hardboiled eggs, something I really like in empanadas.
Pastry dough
- Stir together the unsifted flour (I used whole wheat flour, different from my aunt's recipe.), salt and baking powder.
- Combine ¾ cup of olive oil and ½ cup of water and add to flour mixture.
- Stir until dough is soft and cleans the side of bowl. (Note: I used a food processor to mix the dough.)
- Roll the pastry and use a cookie cutter to cut out circles more or less the size of your palm.
- Place about 1 tablespoon of the beef mixture in the center of each circle (more if circles are larger) and fold the dough over, gently pressing the dough at the seam.
- Seal the edges (In a pinch, use the tines of a fork, as I did here.).
- Place the empanadas on an ungreased cookie sheet and brush each with a beaten egg yolk.
- Also, don't forget to poke a few small holes or make small slits in the dough to allow the moisture inside to vent.
- Bake at 425 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes or until golden brown.
If and when you embark on the mission of making homemade empanadas — well, let’s just say there’s ample time for bonding.
Postscript:
After my Tía Raquel read this post, she sent me these additional tips:
I should have mentioned you can add almost anything you like to the filling. In Argentina it is common to add eggs (as you did) as well as olives and raisins. It’s just a matter of taste.
I always roll the pastry between sheets of waxed paper instead of on a floured surface. You will find that by not adding additional flour the crust is crispier and flakier. The olive oil in the dough mixture is not absorbed with additional flour which makes the empanadas “fry” in the oven.
If you like a juicier filling, don’t cut slits to vent; enough vapor escapes from the edges to prevent them from splitting. You do need venting slits if you make a pie instead of individual empanadas.
Our mother used to make a beautiful braided edge to seal. I can flute the edges but I haven’t been able to master the braid. When I was little, I used to eat the crust only. I wasn’t interested in the filling and to this date the crust is my favorite part.
