In Spanish, empanada means “breaded,” derived from pan, meaning bread.
But that’s a bit misleading, because in Latin America today an empanada is a filled pastry, almost any kind of pastry made from flour or cornmeal and filled with almost anything imaginable, but usually with meats or seafoods of some kind.
We might call them turnovers or individual meat pies, and they can be either baked or deep-fried. Every Latin American country has its own versions. They go together quickly if you organize your work area like an assembly line.
In a variation, a traditional filling is wrapped in store-bought puff pastry instead of homemade pastry crust.
This avoids the effort of making dough. But with puff pastry it’s particularly important to do the rolling on a “cool” surface such as marble. If marble is not available, roll it out as quickly as possible on a wooden board.
You will find frozen puff pastry sheets in the freezer section of your supermarket. Ground turkey or chicken can be substituted for the beef.
Related Posts
-
Where in the Americas did the Spanish first settle and What does Hispaniola mean in Spanish?
On his first voyage in 1492, Christopher Columbus discovered both Cuba and Hispaniola, two of the four large West Indian islands known as the Greater Antilles. The other two are Jamaica and Puerto…
-
What was a Spanish mission and Why did Spanish priests move to California?
A mission was a complex of buildings that housed Spanish priests of a particular Catholic order. These priests came to California to convert Native Americans to Christianity. The missions included quarters for new…
-
What did the Spanish do about the Aztec religion after the Spanish conquest?
The Spanish were fervent Catholics who felt that any other religion was not only wrong but satanic. They had only to look at the Aztec practice of human sacrifice to be convinced that…
-
Why didn’t Brazil become a Spanish colony during the Spanish colonization of the Americas?
In January 1500, Spanish explorer Vicente Yafiez Pinz6n (c. 1460–c. 1523) became the first known European to reach Brazil. By doing so, he beat Portuguese explorer Pedro Alvares Cabral (c. 1468-1520), who did…
-
When did the Spanish conquer Central America and What was the first long term Spanish colony?
The Spanish conquered Central America around the same time they were conquering South America. Spanish conquistador Vasco Nutiez de Balboa (1475-1519) founded the first lasting Spanish colony in Central America at Darien, in…
-
How many Spanish dialects are there and Do all Hispanic Americans speak Spanish the same way?
There are many variations in Spanish dialect. In New Mexico, a relatively pure form of sixteenth and seventeenth-century Spanish has been preserved from the days before the region was conquered by the United…
