While there’s no substitute for experiencing a cuisine in deep and up close, recreating a region’s signature dishes can bring a taste of its culinary tradition into your home—and whet your appetite in advance of your next trip. With these Recipes from the Road, we help you do just that. Empanadas can be found across much of Latin America, but we tend to favour this beef empanada recipe from our friends in Argentina.
Argentinian Beef Empanada Recipe
Ingredients
Dough
3 cups flour
2 tbsp shortening
Salt water, warm
Filling
250 grams lean ground beef
2 yellow onions (diced finely)
1 tbsp chilli powder
Olives (chopped) and raisins (one or two per empanada)
Hard-boiled eggs (cut up one egg into several wedges, one wedge per pie)
1/4 cup broth
1 tbsp flour
Salt, pepper, cumin, oregano, to taste
Instructions
Dough:
In a big bowl mix flour with shortening. Slowly add enough water to mix dough thoroughly. Dough should not be sticky. You may need to add more flour if needed.
Filling:
1. Fry ground beef and drain off the fat.
2. In large pan, sauté onions until clear. Mix and cook on low, adding spices, broth and flour to thicken. Let stand and refrigerate overnight.
3. Roll out circles of dough as if you were making tortillas, but not too thin. Place about one tbsp of the filling on half of dough circle.
4. Add olive, raisin and hard-boiled egg wedge. Close circle and seal by curling edges together.
5. In a bowl, beat one egg, mixing in 2 tbsp of milk. Brush empanadas with milk/egg mixture.
6. Bake at medium-to-low heat until golden brown. Serve with tomato and onion salad, dressed with olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and a good red wine.
