la historia

Clara Inés learned to make emapandas from an early age, sitting on a stool in her abuela’s cool stone kitchen on calle Tejeda in Córdoba. In Córdoba, la carne molida would come from the butcher down the street, the eggs from el lechero who made his rounds before even her abuela was awake, and the vegetables from Paulo, who until recently still came ‘round in his rickety wooden truck every other afternoon. Empanadas were almost a daily occurrence – a delicious creation pulled together from whatever might be in the frigo, enjoyed hot, standing around the oven, or seated on the patio below the moscatel or ‘chinche’ grape vines with a glass of Malbec.

In 2008, Clara Inés and Dan moved to New York City, where they’ve taken to making the tastiest empanadas north of the equator (or so their friends say!). There might not be a lechero stopping by their front door in Williamsburg, and Paulo’s given up his wagon for dominoes, but the fresh vegetables from the green market in McCarren Park & Union Square, and the delicious, grass-fed meats & poultry from The Meat Hook , are much like what you’d find in Córdoba.

An empanada is a half-moon, savory baked pastry stuffed with anything from ground meats to corn, to potatoes, to ham and cheese and more. The name comes from empanar, or ‘to coat with bread’. In Argentina, traditional empanadas are filled with ground beef, hard-boiled eggs and green olives, and in Córdoba they’re slightly sweet, with raisins.

An alfajor is a golosina, or sweet – a sandwich of two thin cookies joined by dulce de leche, chocolate, or a jam, that is often coated in coconut, nuts or sugar. The name comes from the arabic al- hasú, which means ‘filling’, and indeed it was the Moors who first introduced the concept to the Spaniards in the 8th century. In Córdoba, alfajores are traditionally filled with dulce de membrillo - quince paste – rather than dulce de leche, and glazed, but it’s hard to resist a good alfajor de maizena, with its dulce de leche and cocount.

Yerba Mate is the traditional tea popular in Argentina, and other Latin American countries. It is brewed from the dried leaves and stems of the perennial tree Ilex paraguarensis (“Yerba Mate”). The name “mate” derives from the quichua word matí that names the gourd from which it is traditionally drunk, along with a bombilla, or metal straw. Gathering friends to tomar mate is as ubiquitous  in Córdoba as meeting for coffee is in New York. If you don’t have a gourd on hand, mate can be brewed iced, or one can drink mate cocido, which is brewed with fresh leaves, then strained and drunk with a splash of milk and honey. Read  the Guaraní legend of yerba mate.

empanadas ¡dpm!

empanadas argentinos y dulces criollos…a taste of home.