Empanadas

The origin of the name Empanada comes from Spanish word empanar that means ‘ to bread ‘ and the ending ‘ada’ is the action of empanar. The right translation will be to wrap something in bread. But the empanada dough is more like pastry dough than bread. It is very flaky and soft.

Empanadas originated in Galicia (Spain) and Portugal. They first appeared in Medieval Iberia during the time of the Moorish invasions. A cookbook published in Catalan in 1520 mentions empanadas filled with seafood among its recipes of Catalan, Italian, French, and Arabian food. It is believed that empanadas and the very similar calzones are both derived from the Arabic meat-filled pies, samosas.

When the Galician immigrants came to Latin America, the empanada gallega has become very popular in that region.

Spanish colonists carried the dish to Latin America, where they remain very popular to this day.

To this day Empanadas are very popular in Argentina and as we immigrate, it became popular in other countries as well; we carry on our culture and keep the tradition.

We eat them on many occasions

Birthday parties
Bunco night
Sunday football
Or just any family gathering

I love to make them when I want to chill and watch an event on TV that I like, for example, The Golden Globes or The Grammy ’s.

Empanadas can also be made one day before and be warmed up the next day and they taste even better than the first day. So it is a very easy meal because it doesn’t need much attention on the day that you are serving them.

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Ham and Cheese

I use Goya empanada dough for the oven. Puff Pastry dough for turnover

Grab one slice of ham
Put one spoon of shredded mozzarella in the middle of the slice of ham
Fold the slice of ham
Put it on the empanada dough
Close the empanada, you can use a [amazon_textlink asin=’B00OYISDTY’ text=’turnover press’ template=’ProductLink’ store=’us-soph-20′ marketplace=’US’ link_id=’69537e78-3862-11e8-b69c-692da6c7dc22′]

Preheat the oven to 380 before putting the tray inside, once preheated put the tray inside for about 20 minutes until it gets to a golden-brown color.

Let it cool down and then they will be ready to eat!!

Tomato, Basil, and Cheese

Cherry Tomatoes cut in half
Put it in a container with olive oil, salt, and basil (amount to your preference)
Put the dough in a 12-count muffin tray
Make sure that the dough is flattened out over the border so the dough doesn’t fold in
Preheat the oven to 380 before putting the tray inside, once preheated put the tray inside for 10 minutes

After the dough has baked for 10 minutes, take it out
Fill it up with the tomatoes and the shredded mozzarella
Then put it back in the oven for 15 more minutes until it reaches a golden-brown color.