When I was a kid, one of our neighbors had the opportunity to go to South America many times. She also had South American friends that would come and stay with her. A few times those friends would make South American food and invite our family over to share. On one of these occasions, a woman made empanadas. I had never had anything quite like them before, and it's one of those flavors that I can still remember from that one, exact time.
I've experimented with making my own empanadas over the years and made some pretty good ones, but never been able to quite duplicate that first one I had as a kid. This last time, I made them, they turned out really well. Instead of using the same filling that I usually do, I improvised a filling using some leftover potatoes and rotisserie chicken. They were very yummy and I even felt like I got the hang of crimping the edges pretty well.
Basically all you're doing with an empanada is making a little meat pie and baking it. The one thing that I always like to do, though, is to include the very traditional hard-boiled eggs and green olives. That really makes them taste like authentic empanadas. Look for the recipe link at the bottom of the page.
Buen Provecho!
