Empanadas

Three times in March I made empanadas. Yup, I’m a fan now.

What are they? The term comes from the word empanar, meaning to wrap or coat in bread. You’ll find them in a number of Spanish and Portuguese countries. In Mexico, they can be a variety of things. I made one kind for dessert which was more or less fruit inside a pastry. It was similar to pumpkin pie, baked, but each serving is wrapped separately. These fruit-filled empanadas had plantain, raisins, oranges, and some spices.

I also make some empanadas de viejas ropas. I took a few pictures which you can see below. These are more or less meat mixtures (in this case pork with chillies, onions, etc) wrapped in a corn tortilla. Let me tell you, it smelled like a Mexican restaurant in here. Squeeze on a little lime, dip it in some salsa and I bet you can’t eat just one. Here’s my most recent attempt, from Sunday. Not a professional job, but they still tasted good!

Making tortillas with the tortilla press

Empanadas with filling inside

Frying the empanadas

The finished, hot empanadas (although you can eat them cold too)

Enjoying empanadas with Aunt Amy