Many years ago my family lived in an apartment building on the second floor and my parents became friends with the couple across the hall who had three kids. They were from Chile and the husband/dad worked for Motorola and was transferred to Canada (I believe he was an electrical engineer but I can’t be sure because I was only 8). The kids were, Edward, Malu and Christina; my brother fell in love with Christina (the youngest) and asked for her hand in marriage — they were 6 years old. Edward was my age but we were never interested in each other, after all, he was a creepy boy and I was certain he had couties! Malu was a year younger than I and we became friends. We were family friends for several years…7 or 8 I believe, and one day we came home to find that they had moved out without a single word or forwarding address. We haven’t seen them since. How weird is that? Have you ever had such a strange experience?
My dear Mom was always ready to try anything and when the opportunity arose, she would arrange to swap dinners with her Chilean friend. Mom also did that with an Indian friend and a Jamaican friend! This was our introduction to the family love of food. My Mom’s Chilean friend made us Empanadas which are a South American meat patty, often changed up from country to country by the spices added and the type of meat used. Last year when we were in D.C., we had Empanadas at a great little Spanish restaurant and they put their own twist into this delicious patty…they added soft cheese! Boy was it good. It was deep fried and the casing was soft and crispy and the centre filled with wonderfully spiced ground meat and a delicious soft cheese. When I realized that in my 7 years of blogging, I have never posted an Empanada recipe I decided that it was darn time! Shame on me because they are so easy to make and freeze very well. Pop a couple into the oven or microwave and you’ve got a delightful snack or appetizer or light lunch.
A couple of weeks ago, our lovely neighbours invited us for a tapas cocktail afternoon and she made a version of Empanada that got my attention (with chorizo) but for this recipe I shall post my dear Mom’s traditional Chilean friend version for the filling. To be honest, I never really liked Mom’s recipe for the pastry so I made my neighbours pastry recipe instead and I think it’s pretty darn perfect. The pastry is a cross between bread dough and pie crust; the exterior is firm but the texture when you bite into it has some elasticity so the patty doesn’t fall apart. This time I made small one-bite sized patties and a slightly larger 3-4 bite luncheon patties. I hope you enjoy them as much as we do.
Empanadas
Updated July 2022
Makes about 48 mini 5cm (2 inch) Empanadas AND 32 larger 15 cm (3.5 inch)
Ingredients, filling:
- 454 g ground meat (could be mixed veal with pork and beef)
- 3 medium onions, finely chopped
- 1 cup chopped black olives
- 1 cup of golden raisins
- 2 tbsp cumin
- 1 tbsp paprika (sweet or smoked)
- Salt to taste (but be careful because the olives are quite salty)
- 1 ball of fresh mozzarella or Manchego, cut into 1 cm (1/2 inch pieces)
Directions, filling:
- Heat oil in a large dutch oven. Cook onions until soft.
- Add the spices and heat until you can JUST smell them.
- Braise the meat until completely cooked, add the raisins. and the chopped black olives.
- Allow to cool completely before filling dough.
Ingredients, dough:
- 6 cups all purpose flour
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup milk
- 1/2 cup olive oil
- 4 tsp baking powder
- 4 tsp salt
- 1 egg beaten with about 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup sesame seeds for garnish
Directions, dough:
- Pre heat oven to 350°F.
- Combine all dough ingredients until it forms a soft dough (kitchenaid is fine).
- Roll out dough to about 1mm thick (I used the #3 setting on my pasta maker) and cut with a round cookie cutter (small 1 bite size should be no larger than 5 cm or 2 inches and larger luncheon versions should be about 15 cm or 3.5 inches).
- Brush some of the egg wash all around the edge of each circle. Into the centre of each dough circle, add about 1‐2 tbsp meat mixture, making sure you have some raisins and olives in each circle. Add one square of cheese per round.
- Fold dough over filling so it is a crescent and seal the edges.
- Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush each crescent top with the egg wash for shine and sprinkle with sesame seeds or Parmesan cheese.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until lightly golden. Serve warm and enjoy with a bit of jam or compote or mustard.
Notes:
- These freeze very well, just pop them into a zip-lock baggy and freeze, use one at a time or as needed.
- The recipe may be successfully halved or quartered.
- If you don’t like black olives, leave them out, same with raisins but you will miss the salty and sweet combination.
- We used fresh mozzarella because we could not find Manchego cheese. Regular mozzarella may be too hard so I would avoid it.
- In hindsight, the cheese almost completely melted out of the empanada, so next time I doubt I’ll add it.
- May 2017 update to recipe;
- I increased the liquid measurement in the dough by 1/4 cup each.
- JT wanted larger empanadas, so I used #1 on the pasta maker and a 10 cm (4 inch) diametre cookie cutter to make more luncheon-sized versions. We got about 35 out of the batch, but had a bit of the meat mix left over.
[…] our flat has three good-size freeezer drawers to store home-made meals. At home in Toronto, I make these traditional Chilean empanada made with beef and pork; years ago a friend and neighbour kindly […]
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[…] a luncheon one weekend at the cottage, I served the Empanadas because I wanted something reasonably fast as we were leaving to get back to the city. While the […]
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Damn delicious and comforting snack….
lovin it even more with hot and very2 spicy filling!
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Yes, Dedy you can add any type of spice to this tasty patty, I like to use sriracha sauce when I eat them.
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These look wonderful. We’ve only made empanadas once. Must remedy that.
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Now I’m going to have to search your blog to see if it’s true.;-)
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Hmm never realised cooties were enough to drive people away? 😛
What a weird story!
Lovely empanadas, don’t often eat savoury ones but I guess I could always start if they look so good!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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I’m sure it wasnt’ the cooties CCU, likely they were in some witness protection program as another reader, Maria kindly suggested.
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Eva, please don’t tempt me… I have just had a big chunk of black pudding on toast… Your empanadas look gorgeous! And I love of course the sesame seeds on top (I am addicted to those!). I must admit I had empanadas maybe once or twice in my life, but I have always wanted to make them, so I’m thrilled to know where to look for the recipe. The dinner swapping (especially with people of different ethnic origins) is such an extraordinary idea! I wish my Korean neighbours still lived here… I would ask them to do it from time to time!
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That is quite the compliment from such a foodie as yourself, Sissi, thank you! The sesame seeds were the invention of my dear Mother, I simply added the black ones because I like the contrast! My dear Mom was very into trying different things, back in those days the supermarkets were not a ethnic as they are today so when ever she spied something extraordinary, she would buy it. I remember when she came home with Lychee fruit in the 70s, we thought she had fallen and hit her head! It was such an unusual fruit (and weirdly gelatinous for a kid).
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Your empanadas are beautiful with the sesame seed garnish, Eva. I prefer them with green olives rather than black olives.
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That’s interesting Sharyn, we only have ever made them with black olives but green would be tasty too.
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empanadas are a family favorite around here but I hate frying them. The last time I baked them it didn’t turn out like I wanted so I will be giving your recipe a try next time
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It’s rather interesting Jessica, because my Mom’s Chilean friend never deep fried hers, they were always baked. I hope you give them a try and let me know how they work out.
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That is so weird. Who packs up and leaves without saying goodbye? Especially after you were friends for so long. You could have thought they’d been murdered in the night and their bodies were rotting on the floor – that would seem a likely scenario than just disappearing without a trace. Anyway…my husband was born in Chile and live there until he was eight. As such, he loves empanadas that were available everywhere. Unfortunately, my MIL came away from Chile being the worst cook in the world. Chileans cook with a lot of sultanas and my MIL throws them into EVERYTHING. Your empanadas are gorgeous and they look great for a party xx
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Hi Charlie, someone suggested that they may have been in witness protection which makes sense because the wife’s father was assassinated which caused them to flee to Canada. I had no idea that Chileans throw sultanas in everything, I really love the salty and sweet combo.
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Now, there’s a book just waiting to be written about that family:D Thank goodness they left behind this recipe.. I would love these right about now (just about to start making dinner). I love that there’s raisins in them, maybe there always are, I’ve never eaten an empanada.. time to change that!! xx
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Hi Barbara, thanks for the lovely words. They are quite a convenient and tasty lunch. I’m not sure about the raisins, I suspect each family would put their spin on it.
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These look amazing Eva! I like how you adapted the pastry but kept the traditional filling! 😀 LOL at cooties 😛
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Thank you kindly Lorraine.
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I love olives but not raisins so would probably leave them or use less.
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Hi Norma, I would suggest you replace them with another dried fruit like cherries or cranberries, the salty and sweet combo really makes this lovely.
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haha, I haven’t heard the term cooties since I was about 8 years old! Awesome :). How mysterious about the neighbours; my guess is it wasn’t by choice that they left without saying a word but out of necessity maybe for safety reasons. Still, that kind of separation stays with us. You must still think of them and wonder how they are and how their lives evolved; I know I would… Your empanadas are delightful Eva – love the sizing and the look of them too with the sprightly seeds decorating the tops – such pretty styling on that second photo :). I bet they were delicious (great seasonings) and something our whole family would enjoy.
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Hi Kelly, it was weird, someone mentioned that they may have been in witness protection which would have made sense because the wife’s father in Chile was murdered and he was rather high in politics. The empanadas are delicious and quite convenient for quick lunches.
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Aww, I love this post!
When I was a kid, this boy Courtney (I know, don’t bother saying it) proposed to me by giving me the ring inside the Crackerjack box.
I was smitten till he asked for it back.
Dick.
I’ve never tried my hand at making Empanadas either but now I’m feeling all sorts of capable 🙂
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Hi Dana, of course you can do it! How cute is that, I’d forgotten all about crackerjack.
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These sound delicious. I love empanadas. I ate so many of them in Spain it was ridiculous and when we go to my favorite Argentinian restaurant I eat them there too. So good! I’ve never made my own, but it looks like a fun recipe to try this fall for sure! Interesting that the neighbors just moved without a word. I have a long family history at Motorola – three generations worth (including me in college!).
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I’m glad you like the recipe Kristy. The kids would enjoy making them too. Another reader suggested they may have disappeared in a witness protection program which is entirely conceivable since the woman’s father who had been high up on the political scene had been assassinated.
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LOL. That was actually my thought as well. 😉
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I had a similar story with our Croatian neighbors, but I think so they did announce but last minute too. They were cool kids!
I always dream to try a real south american empanada there. How cool would that be! For now I will go for the next best option, your super tempting empanadas.
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Hi Helen, it was rather strange but someone had suggested that they may have been in witness protection which isn’t entirely far fetched. I guess we’ll never know.
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That is a strange story, but people can be odd. It is sad to think that the friendship ended so abruptly. Love you empanadas and I have never made any so I may need to correct that. I particularly like the idea of freezing the mini ones for a quick appetizer. You do cook them first? And how would you rewarm them?
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Hi Betsy, thank you for your kind words. Yes I bake them and then reheat at 300F for 15 minutes or a few minutes in the microwave.
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I’ve only ever made dessert empanadas, mainly because the savoury fillings all seem to have olives in them, which I don’t care for. One day I’ll find a filling, without olives, which appeals to me and I’ll finally make it. The story of your Chilean neighbours IS puzzling. I’m curious what was behind the unannounced move as well. Were they in witness protection? Political refugees… the possibilities are endless, I’m sure.
PS: On a editing note, I’m curious why you chose to number your pastry ingredients. It made me read the first item as 1.6 cups of flour which was misleading.
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Hi Maria, I entered the recipe on my phone and it’s not wysiwyg and I haven’t had a chance to get to a computer to change it. It’s annoying to me too!
Hmmm, I never thought of witness protection but it seems possible. The mom’s father was rather high up in Chilean politics and was murdered the year this family left Chile. Interesting coincidence for sure.
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My husband will love these ground meat empanadas! Great to serve with a light salad for the lunch.
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Thanks Angie, I do hope you love them too.
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That’s really odd that the Chilean family just disappeared. I suppose that would always leave you wondering what happened to them. Living across the hall for more than a year would start to feel a bit like family.
I love empanadas – and yours are yelling at me to try them this week!
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Thank you Maureen, it was a very strange experience. My Mom did a lot of baby sitting for them over the years so I suspect the Chilean folks were using my parents. It’s very sad to think that, but we had heard through the grapevine that they had moved into a house in Vancouver.
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