Did you know that today is National Empanada Day {I’m focusing on this just in case in all of our crazy life drama, the husband forgets to have something organised for Mother’s Day}. I’ve been looking through some of my travel albums – reminiscing about my life so far. These amazing travel adventures may not be in my future, but I am sure that with all these children I will have amazing adventures of a different kind.
I looked through an album of photos from when I spent two months trekking through South America in 2009 – seeing Chile, Peru and Bolivia. The photos bring back wonderful memories of food, fun and friendship.
One of the last photos in the album is of me in these cotton pants – cotton pants that have served me well through my last two pregnancies {even being able to get them on at 40+ weeks}. I am sure that they will get a run through this third pregnancy. It might not be Kate Middleton’s style, but they sure are comfortable pants.
This photo also makes me smile, as I remember that my friend Ollie not only purchased the ‘rainbow’ cotton pants that he is wearing in the photo, to wear in South America – but also wore them home on the plane {perfect travel pants}. We sure got a lot of crazy looks when we landed back in Australia.
One of the delicious items that we ate whilst in South America was Empandas, and I thought that seeing as it is National Empanda Day I would share my recipe for beef and potato empanadas.
BEEF AND POTATO EMPANADAS
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small brown onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
400 grams of beef mince
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 teaspoons of oregano
1 cup of beef stock
3 medium potatoes, cut into 1cm cubes
25 grams butter
1/4 cup of currants
1/2 cup of flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 spring onions, sliced
5 sheets of stored-bought short crust pastry
sea salt
black pepper
*Store-bought tomato relish to serve
Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the onion and garlic and stir frequently until golden. Add the mince, paprika and oregano and cook – breaking up any lumps with a wooden spoon.
When the mince is brown, add the stock, potato cubes and season with salt and pepper. Simmer for approximately 15 minutes – you may need to add a little water to the mixture if it begins to dry out.
Remove from the heat and stir through the butter, currants, parsley and spring onions. Allow to cool.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Using a saucer cut out 4 rounds from each pastry sheet. Place spoonfuls of the mixture into the middle of the disc of pastry, fold over to enclose and press the edges together with a fork to seal.
Place on baking trays and bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden. Serve with your store-bought tomato relish.
Did you travel a lot before you had children? Have you been to South America? Where have you travelled with children? If you choose to whip up one of my recipes , then I would love for you to share it on social media, and don’t forget to use the hashtag #goodfoodweek.
