Empanada is among the pastry turnovers with varied uses as well as a staple in Filipino, Southern European, and Latin American cultures. Fried or baked, sweet or savory, this form of pastry is a more personal expression at all times.
Spain’s Galicia is considered to be its origin, but empanada is available in over 30 nations in some form or shape. The origin of the turnover’s name is empanar, meaning ‘to bread’ both in Portuguese and Spanish.
The Chilean empanadas de pino are baked and filled with ground or diced beef, as well as fried with spices, onions, hard-boiled eggs, raisins, and olives. Each region of Argentina has a unique version of empanada. The Creole turnover is an intrinsic aspect of the identity of Buenos Aires people, so Argentina’s culture ministry has termed the product a ‘Cultural Heritage of Food and Gastronomy’.
On April 08 each year, the US celebrates a national day for empanada. Here, we will look at some flaky finger food items for the next National Empanada Day.
Cook’s Tortas Empanadas
The Cook’s Tortas restaurant’s flaky and creamy strawberry cheese turnovers are covered in somewhat crunchy turbinado dusting. The restaurant’s Nutella Cheese empanadas are topped off with pecans in toasted form, and it also has a soft dulce de leche variety.
La Mascota Empanadas
La Mascota Chef Mario Christerna’s empanada version is close in quality to what Cook’s Tortas makes. The empanada de piña is a smooth pastry product with pineapple filling.
Socalo’s Empanadas
Santa Monica’s Socalo restaurant’s Susan Feniger and Mary Milliken have made their guava cheese turnover perfect. They use lime juice to reduce the sweet level of the guava paste with ooze, plus include cotija cheese in their cream cheese for a sublime and subtle salty balance.
The Empanada Factory’s Version
For different empanadas flavors, this restaurant has been among the best in LA since the year 2003. Its flavors such as cheese, spicy ham or steak, as well as spicy spinach and mushroom are branded through the fillings of the turnovers to aid in avoiding confusion. Consider ordering a few of their homemade chimichurri. Chicken chipotle is the flavor of this empanada month of April.
Empanada’s Place’s Version
This Mar Vista restaurant has a dozen varieties of conventional Argentine turnovers at the least. It has tucumana, arabe, cheese and potato, onions and cheese, as well as eggplant and spinach. Those are also up for grabs in cocktail sizes for people who wish to try every single one of the menu items.
Pie Hole’s Empanadas
From April 13, 2021, every Southern California location of Pie Hole will roll out a new menu with emPIEnada breakfast hand pies. Sweet cherry, cream cheese and peaches, egg and chorizo, as well as the ‘Hand Slam’ are among the options. For your information, the name ‘Hand Slam’ refers to the Pie Hole signature food item with egg, cheddar, and ham.