Empanada Party

Yesterday I had the opportunity to learn a little more about South American cooking with one of my Meetup groups.  Our gracious hostess Geraldine held a cooking party in her home, and gave us a hands-on lesson about making Argentinian empanadas.

I was a bit disappointed that we were not going to do the traditional beef/egg/olive filling (she thought it would be best to stick with something vegetarian to appeal to everyone), but they were still delicious.

I was happy to find out that many people will purchase the empanada wrappers already made (I am a terrible dough-maker!) as this will make it so much easier to try to make them on my own.  This is Geraldine's favourite because it comes frozen and it designed specifically for baking (Horno) vs. frying.

We made two different fillings for our empanadas.  The first was blue cheese.  We mixed together equal parts of finely mashed blue cheese (about 8oz) and diced mozzarella.

 

 

Then mixed in about 4 tbsp. each of finely chopped walnuts and celery along with some salt and pepper.

Our second filling was made up of approximately equal amounts of diced tomatoes (seeded) and mozzarella.  We added in some chopped fresh basil, salt, pepper, and a couple of tbsp. of olive oil and let it all marinade together for about 30 minutes.

Geraldine gave us an expert demo in empanada assembly and then threw us in to try making our own.  You want to add as much filling as you think will fit into it.

Then rub water on the outer edges so that they will stick together.

Then seal it up and fold the edges of the dough over on itself to make the repulgue.  The nicely crimped edge not only looks good but holds everything in place.

 



 

 

Poke holes so that it doesn't explode in the oven and then brush a wash of egg yolk on the top so it will get golden brown when it cooks.

 

 

And here is the finished product! 

Thanks again to our fabulous teacher Geraldine!
Now I'm ready to try this at home.