This article is written by a student writer from the Spoon University at Yale chapter.
Every time my family makes empanadas (which is basically every week), my dad always brings up the same childhood story. He was sitting at the table with his family when his great-grandmother, who was hard of hearing, called. He picked up the phone and told her they were eating dinner, and she asked, in Spanish, what they were eating. Empanadas, my father responded. NADA?! his great-grandmother exclaimed, and she proceeded to abruptly hang up and bring over three dozen empanadas 20 minutes later.
Moral of the story? I never really know with my dad’s stories, but I think it’s that empanadas are godly creations, and you can never have too many of them. Or maybe it’s that you must enunciate properly when speaking to your elderly grandmother…
Making empanadas is an art. A quick glance at the carefully folded edges will reveal that each perfectly stuffed envelope has been given individual attention. So before you embark on the journey of crafting these wonders, make sure that you’re fully prepared to be amazed at your own creation.
Empanadas can be filled with a variety of delicious combinations, but my personal favorites are meat or corn.
Prep Time: 30 minutes (depending on filling)
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Total Time: about 70 minutes
Servings: about 35 empanadas
Ingredients for meat-filling:
1 package of empanada crusts (La Salteña is my personal favorite), or you can cut out smaller circles from pie crusts
1/2 cup of chopped onions
3 eggs
1 lb. of ground beef
11 oz. olives
Salt
photo by Dani Czemerinski
Directions for meat-filling:
1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Fry onions to desired doneness and boil 3 eggs, this will all be used later.
3. Place a large pan on the stove top, and pour enough oil to coat the bottom. Then add 1 lb. of ground beef.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
4. With a fork, constantly mash the meat to avoid clumping. We don’t want chunks. Once the meat starts cooking, add the fried onions and salt to taste.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
5. Cover the pan to avoid the meat drying up and to allow the juice to accumulate without evaporating.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
6. While you’re waiting for the meat to cook, mash up your boiled eggs with a fork. You want it to look like egg salad.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
7. When the meat is cooked (starts turning brown, but it’s okay if there is still a little red) add the mashed eggs and 11 oz. of olives (or you can substitute with peppers, raisins, potatoes, etc).
photo by Dani Czemerinski
8. Mix all of the ingredients with a fork and continue to mash the meat to break up the accumulating chunks.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
9. When you’ve tried the filling and are satisfied with the flavor, turn off the stove top to let it cool. If you want extra flavor, you can add paprika.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
Ingredients for corn-filling:
1 package of empanada crusts (La Salteña is my personal favorite), or you can cut out smaller circles from pie crusts
2 cans (15.25 oz. each) whole kernel corn
1/2 cup of milk
1 spoonful of cornstarch
Salt
3 handfuls of shredded cheese
Directions for corn-filling:
1. Pour 2 cans (15.25 oz. each) of whole kernel corn into a pot. Place the pot on the stove top over high heat.
photo by Dani Czemerinski.
2. Add 1/2 cup of milk and some salt and stir.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
3. To help thicken the milk add 1 spoonful of cornstarch and immediately mix to avoid clumping. Keep stirring until the consistency is thick.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
4. Make sure you keep mixing so that the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pot.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
5. Turn off the stove top and leave the pot there.
6. Add 3 handfuls of shredded cheese (I prefer Parmesan). And keep mixing!
7. Now wait for the mixture to cool.
Directions for crafting the empanadas:
The best way to explain this art is through pictures. After adding a small amount of the mixture into the center of your dough, fold over one side and align it with the other.
photo by Dani Czemerinski
photo by Dani Czemerinski
photo by Dani Czemerinski
photo by Dani Czemerinski
photo by Dani Czemerinski
photo by Dani Czemerinski
Finally, you can stick your creations in the oven at 375°F then indulge in the deliciousness in 40 minutes. Or, you can package them up and store them in the fridge to bake another day (make sure to use plastic dividers between each empanadas so that they don’t stick together!).
photo by Dani Czemerinski
