Argentine Empanadas

Argentine empanadas are a year-round treat. You can make them for holidays, birthdays, and your Saturday and Sunday afternoon barbecues. An empanada is similar to an apple tart. The difference is that the empanada that we will talk about today is made with ground beef as its main component. The secret of great tasting empanadas is the rest of the ingredients that go into the stuffing.


Recommended ingredients for 2 dozen empanadas:

1/2 lb of ground chuck beef
1/2 lb of top sirloin ground beef
1 good size onion diced, or one small bunch green onions chopped
2 garlic cloves mashed
1/2 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of chopped olives, preferable the green olives with red peppers
1 tablespoon of capers
2 envelopes of the Goya brand seasoning with saffron
2 small cubes of chicken broth by Knorr
1 teaspoon of sugar
2 hard-boiled eggs

2 dozen Argentine empanada tops (tapas) available at Latin international markets. Make sure that they are made to be used in the oven. As an alternative if you cannot find the Argentine tapas, you may have to make the dough from scratch and cut in circles of 5 to 6 inches in diameter for tart-size empanadas. The best dough mix that I can offer you is the dough that you use to make fruit pies, such as apple pie.

Preparation of mix:

Use a large frying pan, and keep the heat on medium. First of all, saute the onions and garlic first with olive oil. Now add the raw beef and brown it a little. Throw in the rest of the ingredients listed for the stuffing and stir the mix slowly. Get it going for a little while, and then place a cover over it. Keep checking the mix and stirring it. In 25 to 30 minutes it should be fully cooked.

Add the hard-boiled eggs chopped first, and then season to the mix with anything extra you wish to add while it is cooking on the pan. Taste the stuffing while it is cooking for seasoning.

Once the stuffing is cooked, leave it to cool down for about 10 minutes before you start to fill the empanada crusts.

Preparation of the actual empanada:

Take the package with the empanada crusts from the refrigerator, and start filling one tapa at a time with a tablespoon of the stuffing. You don't want to put too much in them. And now close the tart by soaking your fingers with a tad of water from a dish, and seal the crust by pinching the ends and twist— just like a pie crust.

Before you start laying each empanada on the cookie sheet, spread some oil on sheet and sprinkle a little white flour over the entire sheet. Give the empanadas some space so that they don't stick together. Now you take a raw egg, open it and mix the contents with a few drops of water. With a small brush, dip it on the egg liquid and 'paint' the empanadas over on the top side.
Set the oven at 350 degrees before you stick the empanadas inside to bake.

Place the cookie sheet with the empanadas for 20 minutes, but check them after 10 minutes to make sure they are baking well. You should be able to monitor your progress just to make sure the empanadas bake to perfection. Watch over them so that you don't over burn them. Ok?

Once baked, take the empanadas out, and let them cool down a bit, but not too much as you want to eat them warm, but not scorching hot. Recommend a bottle of good red wine to accompany them.

Enjoy them and save one for me! A small reminder, the entire recipe should provide for two dozen or more empanadas. Should you want to make more, than just do the math, and buy more ingredients at the store. It is best to make extras, than leave your guests hungry for more. Have a bottle of good red wine available to accompany the feast.

****Next recipe will be for "Huevos Rancheros," that is Ranch Style Eggs. Look forward to this excellent breakfast feast.

Recipe Fair

The world is filled with recipes to make delicious food. However, people are getting more and more used to buying cooked food to take home, and are missing out on a fabulous adventure—the art of cooking for the fun of it!

It is with my greatest pleasure that I will be sharing with you my recipes so that you may enjoy
various dishes from different parts of the world. I will start with an Argentine recipe which was handed down to me by a friend in Buenos Aires for preparing fish on the grill.

You are welcome to choose the fish that you enjoy best. The recipe will apply just as well. I would like you to try my 'salmon-on-the-grill' dish, and share the feast with your family and friends.

Once a week, or more regularly if time permits, I will be posting recipes for unusual, but practical dishes such as "Argentine empanadas" which will make your mouth water every time that you prepare them. Your family and friends will also love you for being so "talented."

Today, it's going to be salmon grilled and served with a medley of vegetables cooked on a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil; accompanied with a tossed salad and for dessert: French Chocolate Chiffon Pie, or Key lime pie, or how about Haagen-Dazs Mango Ice Cream, whichever you so desire. For wine, I recommend a chilled bottle of Kendall Jackson Chardonnay.


Salmon on the Grill

Fish: a slab(s) of salmon for as many as you wish to cook for. Ask the fish attendant at the supermarket to give you the right pounds of salmon for the number of people attending your feast.

Spices: ground pepper, salt, and Old Bay Garlic and Herbs

Lemons: prefer to use fresh limes, or regular lemons will do, and pick up at least four

Butter: a tub of "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!"

Preparation: when you're ready to cook, get your grill going hot. Take the salmon out of the refrigerator, and all of your ingredients. You may also bake the fish if you want to. That's fine too!

Lay the salmon slab(s) on a deep corning ware dish to keep the juices from the lemons. Squeeze the lemon juice to your liking, but be generous. Take the butter and spread it over the salmon with the skin facing down, and now sprinkle a little bit of salt, ground pepper and the Old Bay Garlic and Herbs over the slabs.

Let the salmon sit for a few minutes on the dish, and start preparing the tossed green salad, and begin cutting up the vegetables. For a vegetable dish, I recommend zucchini with green, red and yellow bell peppers, and white onions. Cut these up in slices and cook on a frying pan with olive oil.

Take the fish which was marinating for a few minutes and place it on the grill. I recommend that you cook the fish by putting aluminum foil on the grill and lay the fish on it (skin always facing down). Pour all the left-over lemon juice on the dish over on the fish. You should grill the fish until it is done. That is a bit tricky and I use a large fork to tap the top of the meat to feel for texture. But I also cut some of the front of the slab to see if it breaks-off easily. Fish on the grill takes anywhere from fifteen to as much as thirty minutes, depending on the heat.

To turn the fish over to cook on both sides, take a spatula and slip it in between the skin and the meat. Then flip it over. Keep checking to make sure the fish is done. Try not to over cook it, and work on getting good at this. Practice will make you a great cook!

If you have any questions, ideas, comments, or suggestions for me to post, please reach me on my email address at: tonymcclr@gmail.com.

Best of life for you, and next week we start with the Argentine empanadas.

Tony