Empanadas y vino mendocino

Wednesday was my first day of class at the "Intercultural" here in Mendoza. After a lonely day of wandering on Tuesday, it was a relief to meet and talk to the other students who are studying there too, although there aren't many because it's the temporada baja here right now. Since I'm staying alone until Giselle (and then Charlie) get here, I am glad to know that there will be people to talk to and hang out with, especially travelers who I generally find to be open and welcoming. This week, there are students here from New Zealand, the Netherlands (holla Eelco!), Canada, France, China, and the U.S. Since most of them are here for short periods before they move on to their next destination, I expect to see a lot of fluidity.

My current daily schedule will include 2 hours of class in the mornings, and then an optional group lunch and activity in the afternoon. Wednesday's activity was Clase de Cocina! We learned how to make empanadas and, oh boy, were they tasty.

For the adventurous chef out there, here's the recipe for Empanadas Criollas. As you will note, this is abuela's recipe, so there are some details missing--just improvise. Also, get out your metric conversion chart!

You can see pictures of the finished product here. Mine are the ones with a little piece of egg on it. That's how we distinguished our own empanadas from the ones made by others.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 kg of ground beef (abuela says to mix in a bit of water with the ground beef, but I don't remember why)
• 750 grams of onion
• paprika
• cumin
• oil & salt
• 12 empanada shells (in the U.S. you can find these at a Latino grocery store)

Optional:

• 300 grams of tomato
• 300 grams of cheese
• 200 grams of ham
• 2 red peppers
• olives
• 2 eggs
• chili pepper
• raisins
• potatoes

Instructions:

Cut the onion in small pieces. Fry with a little oil until they become translucent. Add the ground beef, salt, paprika, and cumin (sort of a lot, I'd say more than a tablespoon of the paprika and cumin, maybe two or three--you have to experiment to see what you like). Keep frying all of this together. Add some butter so that it sticks together well when it has cooled off (maybe a tablespoon or two). Let it cool.

(You can add any of those other ingredients to your mixture...I like adding cheese and potatoes. Things like eggs, tomatoes, or olives, you can add directly to the empanada without cooking it with the mixture described above.)

Once the filling is cool, put it inside the empanada shell with any other ingredients that you would like (pieces of an olive, pieces of an egg, tomatoes) and close it. Do this by using your finger to trace a little water around the edge of half of the shell, fold it over, and then smush the edges together and fold them over so the filling doesn't fall out.

When you are done, it will look like a half moon. If you put cheese in it, shape it more like a croissant so that the cheese doesn't melt out.

Brush each empanada with a beaten egg and put it in the oven for about 30-40 minutes, until they are golden brown (that seems like a long time, but it's what the directions say...you might want to keep an eye on it). I don't know what temperature. Sorry!

Pair with a yummy Mendozan wine, and enjoy.