Argentinian Empanadas with Chimichurri Sauce

BY GINA KEATING | OLNEY ENTERPRISE EDITOR Photos By Gina Keating

This week, Danny treats us to a finer version of an ancient working man’s lunch: the Argentinian-style empanada topped with chimichurri sauce - a blend of herbs, spices, vinegar, salt, and olive oil. Like empanada recipes, chimichurri varies not only by region but according to each chef ’s secret recipe.

As the basis for our meal, Danny tweaked a recipe from Bon Appetit magazine that my mom, Margaret Romero, loves, and a chimichurri recipe that my brother, John Sopuch III, (whom I like to call “The Steak Whisperer”) created after tasting it for the first time in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

The empanada’s origin is lost to the mists of time, but it is believed that the Muslim peoples of North Africa brought these savory meat-filled, hand-held pies to the Iberian peninsula when they invaded in the eighth century. The empanada traveled to Argentina with Spanish immigrants and has become a staple across the region.

The empanada, whose name means “wrapped in bread,” is nutritious and portable - easy to eat on the go. It is typically filled with spiced beef, pork or chicken but you can fill it with ham, sausage, seafood, hard-boiled eggs, cheese, potatoes or vegetables. Although a typical Argentinian empanada is made with a flour-based dough, we made ours with ready-made croissant dough of the Pillsbury variety. Once stuffed, an empanada can be fried or baked – we baked ours and they were deliciously light and flaky.

As for the chimichurri: Although some believe it originated with the gauchos cowboys who rode the grasslands of Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay in the 19th century - there is no mention of the sauce in cookbooks until the 1950s. The name is believed to be derived from the Basque word for “a hodgepodge.”

There were six of us for supper, and this recipe made plenty to feed us all and leave a few empanadas for me to take home. Danny prepared seasoned chicken and ground beef on the stovetop for our empanada experiment, and we each took turns filling them for the oven. The process was pretty simple and the results well worth it. All ingredients are available at Stewart’s Food Store.

Suggested ingredients:

2 lbs boneless, skinless chicken thighs or ground beef 2 bay leaves 3 tablespoons olive oil 2 large onions, chopped 1 cup green olives 1 medium green bell pepper, seeded, chopped 1 medium red bell pepper, seeded, chopped Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper 3 tablespoons tomato paste 2 tablespoons sweet paprika 1 tablespoon dried oregano ¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper 3 packages (12 each) Pillsbury Pie crust from Stewart’s dairy case Preparation: Step 1:

Bring chicken or ground beef, bay leaves, and 2½ cups water to a simmer in a medium pot over medium heat and cook until meat is cooked through, 30–40 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate; discard bay leaves and reserve broth. Coarsely chop chicken, if using.

Step 2:

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large pot over medium heat and cook onion and bell peppers, stirring, until tender but not browned, 6–8 minutes; season with salt and black pepper. Stir in tomato paste and cook until brick red, 1–2 minutes. Add paprika, oregano, and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add reserved broth and chicken along with any accumulated juices to pot. Stir in 4 tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. black pepper. Add olives. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring and scraping up any brown bits, until most of the liquid is evaporated, 15–20 minutes; taste and season with salt and black pepper, if needed.

Step 3:

Preheat oven to 375°. Let dough sit at room temperature 15 minutes to thaw. Remove from package and roll out on cutting board. Use a large-mouth glass or round cookie cutter to cut out circles in the dough. Place 2 tbsp filling at the center of each. Brush water around half of outer edge of each circle and fold over filling and pinch edges to seal. Using a fork, crimp edges. Place empanada to a parchment-lined sheet tray, spacing 1” apart.

Step 4:

Bake empanadas, rotating tray halfway through, until golden brown and slightly darker around the edges, 25–35 minutes. Flip the empanadas over halfway through cooking.

Step 5:

Transfer to plate and serve topped with chimichurri.

Chimichurri Suggested ingredients:

2 small shallots, very finely chopped 1 serrano pepper, very finely chopped 4 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped ½ cup red wine vinegar 1-½ tsp kosher salt ½ cup cilantro, chopped ¼ cup Italian or flat parsley, chopped 2 tsp. Oregano, finely chopped ¾ cup olive oil Preparation:

Step 1: Combine shallots, serrano, garlic and salt and let those soak in the red wine vinegar for 20 minutes. This is very important.

Step 2: After 20 minutes, add cilantro, parsley and oregano. Then slowly stir in olive oil.

Step 3: Refrigerate for at least two hours but it tastes best on Day 3 in the fridge.