Spanish dish empanada. Empanadas: Cooking Argentine Pies

Empanadas patties can be with different fillings, in fact, it is a filling wrapped in dough. This is exactly how the word "Empanadas" is translated. The recipe for these pies was born in Argentina, where they like to cook most often meat dishes... That's why classic recipe these pies are also with meat. Usually the filling is made from beef or chicken. I like both options. The pies are made as small as our Russian dumplings.
For the filling: red pepper, onion, garlic, spices, herbs, pitted olives, boiled eggs, chopped meat.

Finely chop the greens (dill, parsley, green onions).

Is it beef or chicken, or maybe canned tuna, but two components must be added to the filling: coarsely chopped boiled eggs and olives. My family has a positive attitude towards olives, so I cook according to the classic recipe.

The dough for these pies can be taken ready-made, puff pastry is well suited. But, of course, it is better to make the dough yourself. The recipe is simple and easy to prepare.

Cut the butter into small pieces or grate on a coarse grater. Combine with flour, rub flour and butter with your hands until crumbs.

Add a teaspoon of baking powder to the flour. Pour in a glass of salted water and knead the dough to a plastic consistency. Cover with plastic wrap and leave for half an hour at room temperature.

At this time, prepare the filling. In a frying pan with a small amount of olive oil, fry the garlic, onion, then add the red pepper. After frying the peppers, place the meat on top. Salt, add spices to taste, fry for ten minutes. The meat should not be stewed, but fried.

Add chopped herbs at the end of frying. Remove pan from heat, add eggs and olives. Stir the filling and leave to cool.

Ready dough roll out into a thin layer, about 3 ml thick. Cut out circles with a diameter of no more than 10 cm. Fold the finished mugs in a pile, cover with foil and refrigerate for twenty minutes.

Put a tablespoon of the filling in the middle of the round cake. Join the edges tightly, the process is very similar to sculpting dumplings.

Prepare a baking tray, grease or cover baking paper.

Brush the surface of the patties with a beaten egg. Place in a preheated oven (180-200).

Bake for 15 minutes until golden brown.

Cooking time: PT01H40M 1 h. 40 min.

Empanada is delicious! Empanadas are versatile and fairly easy to prepare. Slightly more complex than tacos, but very similar in amount of ingredients. Tacos are Mexican traditions, and empanadas came from Spain ... and stayed forever.

Empanadas

There are so many pies that are not prepared in Mexico! From corn or wheat puff yeast dough filled with tuna, fish, pork, chicken, beef with olives, raisins, chili, plantains.

Empanada with tuna (Volovanes de Minilla), with pork (Empanadas Chiapacorcenas), Yucatan empanadas (Empanadas de Chaya), with chipotle and chicken (Empanaditas de Pollo con Chipotle), fish with tabasco (Empanadas de Pescado with pumpkin) de Calabaza) - how do you like the assortment? And we will learn how to cook according to at least two or three proven recipes. I adapted, cooked, photographed for you. My beloved family is delighted with Mexican pastries from wheat flour in the oven.

Did you know that ...

... Empanadas appeared in medieval Spain during the invasion of the Moors. The first printed mention appeared in 1520 in Catalonia - in the cookbook in Catalan "Libre del Coch", which includes regional recipes of the magic land. In 1525, the book was translated into Castilian, where it became incredibly popular. By the way, the book is available in private libraries on the Internet. Who seeks will always find!

When to Serve Empanadas?

In Mexico, pies are served for breakfast, at receptions as an appetizer, as a dessert, or on a festive table.

Pie dough

So the dough. Every Mexican family has their own favorite option. The dough must be both tender and crumbly, but also strong in order to withstand the huge amount of filling. The dough is made from corn flour, from wheat flour, from bananas and yucca. Is it a shortbread or yeast dough, which is often something in between, like mine, containing both a huge amount of fat and yeast. At the same time, it rolls out very thinly, it turns out crispy and tender. The dough according to the described recipe is suitable for both savory options and empanadas with fruit fillings and pumpkin. Before baking, the pies are greased with yolk, syrup if desired, while lovers can sprinkle with sugar.

Do we bake, fry or freeze?

Mexican patties are fried in huge amount hot oil or baked in ovens. Appetizing pastries delicious fried and baked. It is better to serve them warm, cooled down to room temperature... We like it with meat fillings straight out of the oven, scalding hot. Products can be frozen, then they will become a lifesaver in an unexpected situation of the arrival of unexpected guests. If you want something like that, believe me, hot mexican patty- your salvation!

Form?

Of course, a crescent moon. After molding, the pies can be left as they are, you can curl up or use the cloves of an ordinary fork to give a characteristic pattern. Drawing with a fork is not just a whim, but helps to keep the juice in the pie, providing additional tightness, and consequently, the juiciness of each ampanada.

Both big and small!

Empanadas can be eaten at any time of the day, any day of the week. You may not even guess, but it is these pies that can become the highlight of a girl's party, if served with a cocktail or a glass of wine. A glass in one hand, and an appetizing little pie in a napkin in the other - you are completely open to communication. are good at any time and anyway. You just have to choose the filling in the spirit of the party and choose the method of preparation - fry or bake.

Empanada with meat

Meat pies will definitely not leave anyone indifferent. We arm ourselves with patience and good mood, go to the kitchen. We collect all the ingredients and Mexican spices, not forgetting the smoked peppers.

Meat - mature, moderately fatty beef with a bright rich taste. It is better to chop the beef or roll it through the large grate of the meat grinder.

Taste, surprise, enjoy!

Delicious Empanadas pies - simple, satisfying and very tasty dish... These cute patties quickly gained widespread fame and popularity. Currently, they are rightfully considered traditional dish in most Latin American countries, as well as in Spain and Portugal.

"Empanada" in Spanish means a pie with a filling. The filling can be either sweet or salty, but it is considered a classic salty filling from ground beef with the addition of various seasonings, spices and herbs.

Today I will show you 2 options for making Empanadas pies. The traditional option is from home shortcrust pastry with several filling options. And also simplified, but no less tasty option making pies - from ready-made puff pastry, spied on by Gordon Ramsay. Let's get started ?!

Prepare the ingredients for the filling. The meat filling of ground beef fried with seasonings and spices is complemented, as a rule, with a small amount of chopped boiled egg to add tenderness and silkiness to the taste. Another popular addition is raisins and olives, but this option is not for everybody, you can use them or not.

Separately, it should be said about the test. I made pies from 2 types of dough at once. Finished puff pastry(variant of Gordon Ramsay) and homemade shortbread dough, which I will tell you about in more detail.

The technology for making shortcrust pastry for Empanadas pies is quite traditional and familiar to many. A feature is, perhaps, only the addition of vinegar and eggs to the dough. These additional ingredients make the dough thicker and more elastic. It is more convenient and easier to work with such a dough, and the pies themselves keep their shape better.

To make Empanadas shortcrust pastry, combine flour and cubes of chilled butter and grind into small crumbs. It is convenient to use a blender for this - the process is very easy and fast, with minimal effort on your part. You can also use lard or cooking oil in place of butter.

Combine water, egg, salt and vinegar and add all this to the flour and butter crumb and knead the dough. Cover the finished dough with cling film and place in the refrigerator for 1 hour.

To make pies from ready-made puff pastry, defrost this dough, roll it out and use a mold or a saucer to cut out circles with a diameter of 11–12 cm. Place the blanks for pies in the refrigerator.

To prepare the filling, chop the garlic, the white part green onions and chop finely onion... We will add the green part of the onion later to the finished filling in order to preserve it. delicate taste... Boil 1-2 chicken eggs within 8-10 minutes.

Fry the onion and garlic in warmed vegetable or olive oil until soft, about 5 minutes.

Add spices. In the traditional version, this is usually salt, ground cumin, paprika, hot red peppers or chili flakes, a pinch of sugar. The Gordon Ramsay version adds cinnamon and oregano. I use dried oregano and add it during the cooking process, add chopped fresh oregano to the ready-made filling.

Add minced meat to the skillet. Mix and fry for another 5-7 minutes, until tender.

Meanwhile, chop the rest of the green onions and the boiled egg.

Add green onions to the finished, slightly chilled filling. A boiled egg can also be added directly to the filling or added separately in small portions to each pie. I prefer the second option.

Mix the filling thoroughly and add more salt and spices to taste. Chill the filling slightly before shaping the patties.

Chilled shortcrust pastry roll out to a thickness of 0.5 cm. Cut out circles with a diameter of 11–12 cm using a mold or glass. Store the blanks in the refrigerator.

When the main components are ready, you can start forming the pies. The process is the same for both puff pastry and shortcrust pastry.

Place 1-2 tablespoons in the center of the dough circle. fillings. I cooked 2 options for pies:

• with meat filling and boiled egg
• with meat filling, egg, raisins and olives

Moisten the edges of the dough with water, fold the circle in half and tape the edges. There are two popular ways to fasten the edges of Empanadas: the first is by hand, lightly pinching the dough with your fingertips, the second is to sprinkle a fork with flour and, using light pressure, press towards the work surface of the table.

I used both techniques, this made it easy to distinguish between pies with different kinds fillings.

Place the finished pies on a baking sheet lined with baking paper and put in the refrigerator for 20-25 minutes or in the freezer for 10-15 minutes.

Brush the surface of the chilled patties with an egg and bake until golden brown, about 15-20 minutes. The filling is already ready, all that remains is to bake the dough until ready. Another popular technology for making shortcrust pastry pies can be deep-fried until tender.

Our delicious, Latin American Empanadas pies are ready! Everyone's tastes are different, but personally we also liked the pies with the usual meat filling, and with the addition of olives and raisins, both from shortcrust pastry and from puff pastry.

Empanadas is usually served hot, accompanied by savory. The sauce is prepared in a few minutes using fresh herbs. Seasoned with garlic and hot pepper, it goes well with pies and harmoniously sets off their taste.

Pour 100 ml olive oil into a saucepan and heat, but do not boil. Remove from heat, add paprika and stir. Cool to room temperature.

Sift flour into a bowl and mix with dry yeast. Heat 100 ml of water and add salt to it. Gather the flour with a slide, make a depression in the center and pour the butter and paprika into it (leave about 1 tablespoon to grease the cake), add water and start kneading the dough with a fork, gradually mixing the liquid with the flour. When all the flour is mixed with the liquid, knead the dough with your hands, 10 minutes.

Roll the dough into a ball, sprinkle with flour and place in a bowl, tighten with plastic wrap and leave in a warm place to come up, for 1.5 hours.

Grate the tomatoes. Cut the onions and peppers into small cubes. Preheat a skillet with olive oil and sauté the onions and peppers over medium heat until soft. Add the tomatoes and cook for another 10 minutes. Cut the egg into cubes, divide the tuna into small pieces with a fork. Add egg and tuna to vegetables, season with salt and pepper and remove from heat.

Grease a 28–30 cm low-rimmed baking dish with oil. Knead the matched dough lightly and cut in half. Roll out half of the dough and line the bottom and sides of the mold with it. Lay out the cooled filling and smooth well. Roll the other half of the dough into a circle and cover the pie. Gently pinch the edges, cut off the excess dough. Make a small hole in the center of the cake for the steam to escape. Roll out the remaining dough and cut out thin strips to decorate the cake with. Leave the cake for 10 minutes, cover with a napkin.

Preheat oven to 200 ° C. Brush the remaining paprika oil on the cake. Place the pie in the oven and bake for 5 minutes, then lower the temperature to 190 ° C and bake for another 30–35 minutes. Check the pie with a wooden stick. Serve slightly cooled.

Servings: 12
Cooking time: 2 hours

Recipe description

I heard the name Empanada for the first time quite by accident, after watching an interesting culinary show. I got interested and decided to find out more about these wonderful pies.

Empanadas is a primordially Agrentean dish that is cooked in every province. The first mention of it occurs already in 1520th year. It's big and ruddy pies with meat filling, similar to our pasties, but probably more refined.

In Argentina, they are served in restaurants and the filling can be varied. It is based on meat (chicken, lamb, hare or even shrimp), to which (depending on the province) vegetables, peas, olives, raisins and spices are added.
Empanadas is eaten by hand and washed down with red wine.

After such a detailed study of the topic, I wanted to visit distant Argentina and try meat Argentinian pies... But, since this trip is not foreseen in the near future, I decided to cook them myself, as the saying goes, "If the mountain does not go to Magomed, then Magomed goes to the mountain."

To prepare empanada you need:

For the test:

• Egg - 1 piece;
• Apple cider vinegar - 1 tsp;
• Butter - 100 grams;
• Salt - 1 tsp;
• Water - 70-80 ml.

For filling:

• Minced chicken - 400 grams;
• Onions - 1 piece;
• Green onions - a bunch;
• Garlic - 1-2 cloves;
• Paprika - 1 tsp;
• Oregano - 1 tsp;
• Salt to taste;
• Olives;
• Raisins - optional;
• Sugar - 0.5 tsp;
• Eggs - 1-2 pieces.

For frying:

• Vegetable oil - 1 liter.

Cooking in steps:

The dough, by the way, can be flaky. The store is also quite suitable.
I'm going to do it myself, in order to avoid heartburn from my beloved harmful husband.

We start by sifting the flour into a deep container and making a depression in the middle.
Mix the water, egg, salt and vinegar separately.
Pour this mixture into the depression.
Add oil and mix all ingredients thoroughly until smooth.
Knead for 3 minutes, wrap with cling film and leave in the refrigerator for an hour.

At this time, we are preparing the filling.
Pour into the multicooker bowl (or use a frying pan) vegetable oil and select the "Baking" program for 40 minutes.
Fry the finely chopped onion, then add the minced meat and continue cooking. Add salt, spices and mix. At the end of the time, pour greens, olives with rings and chopped garlic into the filling.
Separately, you can boil an egg and cut it into cubes, adding to the finished filling.
Pour the raisins with hot water for 5 minutes, then rinse and drain several times.

We take the dough out of the refrigerator and roll it out not too thin. With a large cup (or a deep plate) we leave impressions on the dough and cut off.
Or we form a sausage from the dough, divide it into equal pieces and roll it out with a rolling pin.

Put the filling in the center of each circle and form a pie.

Empanadas can be baked in the oven with yolk, but I decided to deep-fat them.
To do this, pour oil into the multicooker and set the "Steam cooking" mode for 20 minutes.
We are waiting for the oil to boil and immerse the pies in it. Fry until tender and remove. So we prepare, in turn, all the empanadas.