Pastry
There are tons of different recipes for the dough, a lot of it depends on what part of Argentina the empanadas are from. Two recipes are included below, one using butter, and the other using lard. The ones with lard will be more tender and fluffy.

**It’s not always easy to find the time to make the dough. You can always buy the empanada dough, and make your own fillings. However, homemade dough is always much better**

Empanada Pastry with Butter

2c. flour
100g butter, cut into pieces
Pinch of salt

In a large bowl, combine flour and butter with a pastry cutter, or two knives. Once the dough is in pea sized pieces, add the luke warm water. Knead together with your hands until well-mixed. Cover, and let stand until your empanada fillings are ready.

Empanada Pastry with Lard
¼ kg flour
50g lard
1 egg
Cold water

Mix flour with lard. Add the egg, knead together, and add enough water for the dough to stick together. Once it forms a nice ball, leave it covered until your empanada fillings are ready.

Once you are ready to make your empanadas, roll out the dough until it is quite thin, about 2mm. Cut into circles about 12 cm in diameter. Fill the center of each circle with desired empanada filling. Fold and pinch the edges shut, and place them on a baking sheet. Bake at 300F until golden brown.

**Empanadas can be fried as well, although it is more common to find them baked (in Buenos Aires).  If you want to fry them, you can do so with oil in a frying pan, or put them in a deep fryer**

Empanadas with Chopped Meat
1/2 kg of bola de lomo. If you are not in Argentina, you can use any meat that is easy to cut, and has very little fat.
1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 red pepper
½ cup green olives
2 hard boiled eggs
Salt, pepper, cumin, and ground chillie peppers

Make sure all ingredients are chopped very fine, except the meat and the eggs. These can be a little bigger, in strips about 1 inch long. Add some oil to a large frying pan. Add onion and garlic, and sauté until onion becomes transparent. Add meat, chopped red pepper, and olives. Simmer until meat is cooked and peppers are tender. Then add chopped egg, and season with the salt, pepper, cumin, and ground chilli peppers. Let cool before filling empanadas.

Ham and Cheese Empanadas
In Argentina, there is ham and cheese for just about everything. Here is a typical recipe for the filling of ham and cheese empanadas. These come out of the oven oozing with melted cheese, and are a real delight!!

Ham slices or cubes (if they are ham slices, the thicker the better. Cut them into inch long strips)
Two cheeses of your – one should be cut into cubes, and the other should be grated. Any kind of hard or semi hard cheeses can be used – mozzarella, roquefort, cheddar, parmesan, gouda, etc.
Fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix ingredients well and fill empanada shells.

Chicken Empanadas
1 large chicken breast, with bone
1 onion
1 clove garlic
1 red pepper, chopped fine
Paprika, salt, and pepper to taste

Boil chicken breast until cooked. Remove from water and cool. Pull chicken off the bone in strips. Add onions and garlic to a frying pan, sauté until transparent. Add chopped red pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes. Add chicken, and spices. Sauté for 3 more minutes until flavors blend. Remove from heat and cool before filling empanada shells.

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½ cup olive oil
½ cup red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
1 onion, chopped fine
2 cloves of garlic, chopped fine
1 tbsp ground hot chillies
1 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp paprika
¼ tsp of salt
¼ tsp pepper

Combine all ingredients except vinegar. Mix well. Add vineger, and let stand for one day before serving.

**Expose note: It doesn’t actually have to sit 2 hours before serving it, but the longer the better, so that the flavors will mix. Do not serve it immediately after making it, because it just doesn’t taste very good**

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Locro:
1 kg dried white corn kernels (use fresh yellow corn if you can’t find white)
1 kg white beans
1 kg of meat with bones
½ kg of cubed stewing meat
½ kg cubed pork (if you have bones, ad them as well, and remove them later)
¼ kg bacon, cut into small cubes
5 fresh sausages. Usually 2 or 3 spicy (such as spicy Italien) and 2 or 3 regular pork sausages
2 large carrots, cubed
1 small squash, peeled and cubed
2 cloves garlic
3 medium potatoes
3 medium sweet potatoes or yams
½ small cabbage

Sauce:
½ cup olive oil
¼ onion, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp ground hot chilies
1 tbsp paprika
Chives, chopped

The night before, put corn (if you are using dried corn) and beans in water to soak in a huge pot. The following day, take out half of the beans and corn. Add all the meats and sausages into the pot with the other half of beans and corn. Bring to a boil and let simmer until the liquids have thickened, and the meat is super tender. Figure somewhere between 6 – 10 hours. Six is ok, but 8 or 10 is even better.

Once you have about two hours left, add the rest of the beans and corn. You will notice that the other beans that were already in the pot will have started to fall apart. This is fine, and is supposed to happen. You can also add the rest of the ingredients now. Cover and let simmer for the last two hours, stirring occasionally.

During this time, you can make the sauce for the locro. Sautee onion in olive oil. Add garlic. Sautee until onions are clear. Add hot chillies and paprika, sautee for another minute. Remove from heat and add chopped chives on top. Serve in a bowl, for each person to add to their locro.

This is a very hearty meal, and should be enough for 10-12 people. If you don’t have a big enough pot, you can make a half recipe.

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This is a classic Argentine recipe, and perfect for the cold winter days. Although not as common in Buenos Aires as puchero or locro, it is still well known traditional Argentine dish, and you can find it at most of restaurants serving traditional (or criollo) Argentine food. It is basically a stew, though it often has peaches in it, and can be served inside a giant squash. As with most recipes for stew, people tend to have their own recipe, and will often use whatever they have on hand. Here is a recipe for you to follow, but feel free to experiment and change the recipe to how you like it. My favorite thing about the Argentine carbonada is that it is often served in a giant squash, which makes for great presentation and extra flavor. This recipe includes instruction on how to make the carbonada “en zapallo” (in squash).

1 large, round squash (needs to be able to stand up on its own).
½ cup milk
2 tbsp butter

Cut off the top of the squash, and clean out the seeds and any loose pieces of squash. Poor in the milk and butter. Place in the oven at 350F, and cook until soft, usually about 1 hour. While it is cooking, you can start preparing the rest of the carbonada.

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, cut into large pieces
3 tomatoes

½ kg meat, in cubes. Any meat will do, that has little fat, and no bone.
½ kg of pork in cubes. With or without bone. If it’s with the bone, you will have to remove them later. With bone will add more flavor.
2 fresh pork sausages
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp Oregano

4 potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 sweet potatoes or yams, peeled and cubed
2 carrots – peeled and cubed

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
4 peaches or 1 large can of peaches, cut into small chunks (optional)
1 large corn of cob, or 2 smaller ones. You can either cut the kernels off, or cut the cob into 1 cm wide slices
Salt, pepper

Get a big pot, add some oil, and sauté the onions and garlic, until the onion Is slightly clear. Add the meats, sausage, and spices, and continue cooking on medium heat until the meat is seared. Add one cup of water, cover, and cook slowly for another 20 minutes.

Add the potatoes, sweet potatoes, and carrots. Cook for five minutes, then add the peppers and the peaches. Cover and cook on medium low heat until all the vegetables are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place stew inside the cooked squash, and place in the oven for another 10 minutes, at about 300F.

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The following is intended to give you a general idea of what you will see in all of the basic restaurants here, and in little take out places. Buenos Aires is a huge city, and has a great selection of restaurants, so there are plenty of other options available. The following is what you can expect to see everywhere.

Parilla - Argentina is known for its fabled Argentine beef, and they do eat a lot! Parilla means BBQ, so Parilla restaurants serve BBQ´d food. Mostly different cuts of meat, but also fairly common are pork, goat, lamb, and chicken. BBQ´s here are always done with either charcoal or leña (charcoaled wood), so the flavor is quite different from the gas BBQs that are used in other parts of the world, especially North America.

Milanesa - a milanesa is pretty much anything that is breaded, but usually refers to a thin cutlet of breaded meat. It is usually fried, and can be served plain, with ham and cheese, or with a tomato sauce on top. This is one of the most common foods here, and is a type of fast food.

Pizza - It is pretty amazing how many pizza restaurants there are in Buenos Aires and even the restaurants that aren´t specifically for pizza, still serve pizza. There are a few styles of pizza available in Buenos Aires. There are thick and thin crust pizzas. Some places place the ingredients on top of the cheese, others place it below the cheese. Almost all places put a lot of cheese on, and if you go to some of the cheaper pizza joints, the pizzas tend to be really greasy.

Empanadas - These are everywhere….in bakeries, restaurants, kiosks, gas stations. Its an Argentine form of fast food, and depending on where you go, are often very tasty, and fairly cheap. It is a pastry in the form of a half moon, stuffed with meat, chicken, or vegetables, and are then baked or fried. They make a nice appetizer to a meal, or are great to take as a snack or a meal if you are on the go. Be careful though, empanadas are so accessible and common, most people end up eating too many and become bored of them (and put on a few pounds).

Salads - vegetables are not something that are eaten in abundance here. Luckily, salads are easy to find and many restaurants have some great salads to choose from. The most common is ensalada mixta, which is usually lettuce, onions, and tomatoes, although often you can choose what goes in the salad. Some of the other common ingredients include beets, eggs, onions, and potatoes, among others.

Sandwhiches de Miga – These are very, very basic sandwhiches which are served in some restaurants, but are mostly available in bakeries. They are a type of sandwhich made with 2 or 3 slices of bread, with the crusts cut off. Inside is usually ham, cheese, mayonaise, tomatoes, olives, or egg salad. These are a sort of comparison of the sandwhiches served in North America, but are, in my opinion, not nearly as good. If your used to a nice 2 inch thick sandwhich made with lettuce, meat, sauces, and a bunch of other vegetables, sandwiches de miga will be a huge disspointment. They do make a good, quick snack that is easy to transport.

Tartas - these are what we know as quiches, although they don´t always have egg, and as far as I know, quiche is always made with egg in it. Bascically, these are open-face pies, filled with vegetables, eggs, and sometimes meat. The most common are filled with ham and cheese, spinach, egg, or squash.

Again, this is a list of the most common Argentine foods, that you will see everywhere all the time. There are many other common Argentine dishes as well, please read more about them here: Typical Argentine Food

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• Chocolina cookies (these are only available in Argentina. They are thin, basic chocolate cookies, that are somewhat bitter sweet, and very chocolaty. You can use other chocolate cookies that match this description if you are not in Argentina).

• Whipped Cream

• Dulce de Leche (you should use Argentine dulce de leche if possible, can be found in import stores)

**I didn´t put amounts, because amounts aren´t particularily important. It is always done based on the amounts that work for you. Read how it´s made to determine the amounts you need.

Mix the whipped cream and dulce de leche together. It should be about 50/50, though you can make it suit your taste. At the bottom of a square cake pan, lay down a layer of cookies. On top of that, spread a thin layer of the whipped/dulce de leche. Continue making layers until you are at the top of the cake pan, about 6 layers. Spread a thick layer of the whipped/dulce de leche on top. Place in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours, or overnight if possible. Cut into small squares, and serve with coffee.

There are many different variations. For example, instead of whipped cream, you can use Casa Crema, which is similar to cream cheese (which you can use as a substitue if necessary). You can also soak the cookies beforehand in either coffee, coffee liquer, chocolate liqueur, or cognac.
A true Argentine classic. Enjoy!

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