Country 7 - Argentina

Argentina is a federal republic in the southern part of South America. It is bordered by Chile, Bolivia, Paraguay, Brazil and Uruguay, it is also bordered by the South Atlantic ocean.

It is the eighth largest country in the world and the largest Spanish speaking one. It was a colony of Spain and after a war of independence and a civil war in the 1800's many Europeans immigrated there and reshaped the culture of the country.

Argentinian food is influenced by Mediterranean cuisine, especially Italian and Spanish. Beef seems to be a staple with 100kg per person per year being eaten at one time!  

We decided to make Empanadas Mendocinas, with Milanesa de Berenjenas a la Parmesana, Criolla Salad, Chimichurri Sauce and Grandma Pepita's Carrots.

This meal promised to be the best meal so far in our culinary world tour!

I started making the meal in the middle of last week. Grandma Pepita's Carrots are pickled carrots so they needed some preparation. I forgot to take photos of the process but basically I made a pickling solution from white wine vinegar and water and then added salt, sugar, onion,garlic, a bay leaf, pepper and chilli. That was brought to the boil and then poured into a sterilized jar with the carrots. Easy!

                              

 This is what they looked like a few days later. The pickling solution had softened them a little but they were still crunchy and had a good spicy flavour.

                             

On the day of the meal I made the chimichurri first because I wanted the flavours to have time to combine. I had to buy the parsley but we keep fresh thyme growing indoors and the oregano had just grown enough in the garden for me to pick what I needed.

                                         

Once I had blitzed the herbs with garlic, onion and olive oil it all smelt rather good. I also added cayenne pepper. Some recipes include coriander/cilantro and fresh chilli, they would be amazing too.

     Next I prepared the tomato salad. Pretty easy again. Just peel and deseed the tomatoes and chop them up with a red pepper. I used less onion than suggested as I don't really like too much raw onion. The dressing was olive oil, apple cider vinegar and crushed garlic. I left the garlic to infuse in the vinegar and oil before tossing it in the salad about an hour before eating so all the flavours could combine.

                                       

The pastry for the empanadas had to be made first. It was a great recipe. Since moving to Canada I have had to change my pastry recipe because Canadian butter has a lower fat content than European butter so my recipe wouldn't work. The empanada recipe was slightly different again - and made beautifully short pastry with enough strength to hold together these little pies. I will be using it again to make savoury pies - especially Gary's favourite the Cornish Pasty!

The pastry contains a mixture of lard (from Peasant's Pantry or Getaway Farm)

and butter and is bound together by egg yolk and warm milk.

After letting the pastry sit in the fridge for 30 minutes I could cut it into discs before making the pies. These discs had to rest before use too.

   Gary began to make the empanada filling. Minced beef and onions are fried in lard and flavoured with smoked paprika, chilli, oregano and cumin, then chopped green/spring onions are mixed in and then left to cool.

                         

             

Finally it is time to construct the pies. A tablespoon of meat goes into the middle of the pastry with a slice of boiled egg and a slice of green olive. Then egg white is brushed around the edge and the whole thing is crimped together like this!                          

Actually this is the first and only time I have ever been able to crimp properly - the rest are a bit dodgy! 

 Here are the empanadas before and after cooking - they were brushed with egg yolk before being cooked.

            

Lastly we made the Milanesa de Berenjenas a la Parmesana. This is baked aubergine/eggplant marinated in egg, parsley and garlic and covered in breadcrumbs and parmesan cheese. They only needed a short time in the oven but we had to warm the baking tray beforehand to ensure they got crispy bottoms!

                                            

Obviously we needed something to drink with our meal and we got this lovely bottle of organic Argentinian wine from the local liquor store. 
The vineyard is in the Central Valley of Mendoza by the Andes Mountains and is a family winery in the UNESCO recognized Nature Ecologic Reserve of Nancunan (there should be wiggly lines over the first and second n but I don't know how to do that!). Anyway, it was a great wine!

                                          

Our Argentinian meal. 

This promised to be' and turned out to be, the best meal we have made so far on our World Food Adventure. The aubergines were amazing (we will be making them again) especially when combined with the tomato salad and chimichurri. The empanadas were a bit spicy but not too much and we made enough for lunch tomorrow!