| 07–May-2020 | Today’s culinary adventure re-connected us with Dan of Casa SaltShaker in Buenos Aires via Zoom. When Jeff learned that Dan is doing online cooking classes and demos via Zoom while coronapacalypse has shut down his private dining experience Casa SaltShaker, we immediately knew we had to get in on this opportunity. A messages and emails later Jeff, Berto and I are all set to make EMPANADAS!!!  

Fortunately the ingerdient list contained only one scarce item: flour, but I’d stocked up early in the corona-chaos. Green olives caught my attention on the shopping list though, and Dan explained that our recipe tonight is from NW Argentina where green olives and green onions are what make their empanadas unique.

Dan talked Berto and me though preparing our fresh ingredients. I’d chopped everything together before learning I needed the onions to go into the pan first. Doh!  No worries – got that sorted, literally.

After cooking the filling, we turned our attention to the dough. A simple flour mixture came together quickly; we rolled out 8 empanadas and divided the filling.

Dan showed us how to fold the fancy pleat the Argentines use, and explained that how the empanada is pleated gives a clue to the type of protein inside.  This is the traditional beef pleat.

Success! Not that I had any doubt – just very curious how these would compare to my recollection of the empanadas from Pin Pun and Azul.

We weren’t able to find any Malbec from Kaiken at Total Wine this trip, so we blindly picked another winery from the sea of options.

We’d been looking forward to this break in our staycation, and excited to learn to make something new. Like the dumplings of Hong Kong, I expect these to make a fairly regular appearance in the rotation as I start to play with filling options.

Thank you, Dan, we had an awesome time!