April Topic~Empanadas

[Dib's]

So what's an empanada anyway?
Empanadas are named after the Spanish verb empanar, which means to coat or wrap in bread.

Baked or fried turnovers that are made with pastry dough and stuffed with endless combinations of meat and/or vegetables or fruit, empanadas are usually shaped like half-moons and range in size from bite-sized to family-sized.

In some Argentinean provinces, empanadas can be spiced with peppers, in Chile empanadas also use a wheat flour-based dough, but the meat filling is slightly different and often contains more onion. Chileans consider the Argentine filling seco, or dry. Fried empanadas of shrimp/prawns and cheese are a favourite dish of the coastal areas, like Viña del Mar. I have even seen recipes for empanadas filled with shrimp and hearts of palm~those have my name on them.
In Colombia, common empanadas are filled with chopped meat, pieces of potato, and yellow rice, and are eaten with a spicy sauce made of cilantro and ají pepper, stuffed in a corn-based pastry and fried.

Many other countries around the world claim the empanada as one of their own, including Mexico, Portugal, the Caribbean, the Philippines and Spain, where empanadas are thought to have been born in Galicia. Galicia's Empanada Festival falls on the last Sunday in August. Indian samosas are one example of similar preparations found elsewhere in the world, as are Cornish and Welsh Pasties, even the Italian Calzone. It's a delicious family tree.

April 8th, 2010 is National Empanada Day!!! Here are a few recipes for you to check out, feel free to add yours and celebrate the versatilel Empanada!

South American Empanadas(mostly)
Dessert Empanadas
Empanada Doughs and the odd "made it into this catagory empanada"
The Rest

[threeovens]

Oooh! Glad I saw this before Apr 8! I think I will make several different empanadas for lunch and dinner that day. Perhaps a Colombian empanada with the corn meal pastry and ground beef with potatoes, another with a flour pastry and chicken and some Scottish pasties.

[Dib's]

Ice Cool Kitty wrote:
Oooh! Glad I saw this before Apr 8! I think I will make several different empanadas for lunch and dinner that day. Perhaps a Colombian empanada with the corn meal pastry and ground beef with potatoes, another with a flour pastry and chicken and some Scottish pasties.

I Love Pasties-could easily live on them-LOL!
There's this too-Pasties-Traditional and not so Traditional

[Dib's]

Ice Cool Kitty wrote:
Oooh! Glad I saw this before Apr 8! I think I will make several different empanadas for lunch and dinner that day. Perhaps a Colombian empanada with the corn meal pastry and ground beef with potatoes, another with a flour pastry and chicken and some Scottish pasties.

Did you make them?

[Susie D]

I recently made this easy version by Mrs Cavaner. Turkey Empanadas Grande

[Dib's]

Susie D wrote:
I recently made this easy version by Mrs Cavaner. Turkey Empanadas Grande

Those look good-I put them in my "to try" cookbook!

[Dib's]

Dib's wrote:

Susie D wrote:
I recently made this easy version by Mrs Cavaner. Turkey Empanadas Grande

Those look good-I put them in my "to try" cookbook!

Going to Gabriola Island this summer & my Mum promised a turkey-this will be a family project with the leftovers