Yum! Photos by the lovely Kira.
We have a dream.
Our dream is to take the many, um, skills we learned living in Argentina and apply them to our future. So Kira and I, along with fellow friends Kathryn and Megan, set out last week to achieve this dream. Round one of testing for our new empanada restaurant!
We recently learned that 5411 is dominating that thriving Chicago empanada scene. Coincidentally, the owners are recent grads from different fields, one from Northwestern as well. But we thought, heck…we already had the idea and have yet to hit up the joint, so why not test our prowess to see if we could give them a little healthy competition?
In Argentina, after frequenting one empanada restaurant in the northwest city of Cafayate so many times they invited us for a kitchen tour, we learned the harsh truth: delicious argentine empanadas are made with lard.
Determined to be cow-fat free, we set out to Dominicks and got the goods for Feta/Mushroom/Spinach empanadas and Tomato/Basil/Mozzarella. Of course, we had to accompany it with Stella Artois, which is as common as Pabst Blue Ribbon way down south. And some Malbec, por supuesto.
Lots of music (Reik!), obsessive picture taking, delicious salads, and good company blurred into a lovely evening. And the empanadas weren’t too shabby. In fact, I may say we are well on our way to becoming wealthy young Chicago foodies (i.e. our dream). Cuidate, 5411.
Check out our recipe below for the dough (courtesy of Epicurious!). As for the filling– that’s a secret we aren’t ready to divulge quite yet.
-L
“Ingredients:
- 2 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
- 1 large egg
- 1/3 cup ice water
- 1 tablespoon distilled white vinegar
Sift flour with salt into a large bowl and blend in butter with your fingertips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal with some (roughly pea-size) butter lumps.
Beat together egg, water, and vinegar in a small bowl with a fork. Add to flour mixture, stirring with fork until just incorporated. (Mixture will look shaggy.)
Turn out mixture onto a lightly floured surface and gather together, then knead gently with heel of your hand once or twice, just enough to bring dough together. Form dough into a flat rectangle and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, at least 1 hour.”
Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Empanada-Dough-230786#ixzz0hH6nihfR
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