Finished empanadas
In preparing for Argentina, I purchased an Argentine cookbook to learn more about what is eaten there and maybe how to cook it. It's interesting to see how much beef in eaten in Argentina-- beef is a huge industry and export, although that is changing. Argentina's consumption of beef is decreasing as people realize it's not wise to eat steak every meal and it has fallen to the eleventh-ranked beef exporter in the world. (Read more in Simon Romero's New York Times article.)
I decided to start with something that I was mildly familiar with--empanadas in Spanish or empadas in Portuguese. The recipe was adapted from Cooking the South American Way, a cookbook for kids I got from the library. I made mine with relleno de carne picada , or beef filling. I struggled the most with the timing, since the beef filling had to be precooked, but still hot, when the dough was ready. The filling included beef, onion, cumin, salt, and raisins. I omitted the olives (yuck!) and the paprika (couldn't find in the spice cabinet). The recipe called to cook the beef and onions and then let it sit on the stovetop on medium for another twenty minutes. After ten minutes, the beef was starting to look dry, so I turned it off and let it sit while I made the dough. I almost forgot to add some of the liquid to the dough, so its final consistency was a little too sticky. I had a hard time getting it rolled thin enough. Into the oven at 400 degrees for twenty minutes.
The final product turned out okay. The dough to filling ratio was off-- I did need to roll the dough thinner because the bites yielded a lot more bread than filling. I also would have cooked the filling less because it was very dry by the time it came out of the oven. But for my first attempt at South American cooking, I think I did all right.