Empanadas and other worthy pursuits

So, good news! I am almost finished with the first draft of my thesis. The end of this whole process is in sight, but it is a little overwhelming how much I have to do between now and mid-December. Since I only have class two days a week, I have to work very hard to structure my time. Sometimes, it is exceptionally difficult to concentrate at home. I have been taking the bus to Starbucks about once a week and hanging out there for a few hours in hopes of increased productivity. It actually works really well, but I wish it didn’t have to be Starbucks: it is not my favorite coffee shop, I don’t like the corporate chain vibe, and it’s relatively expensive. So I just order the cheapest drinks and bring granola bars from home. Even though the clientele is sometimes distracting (upper-class businesspeople, upper-class teenagers from the prep school across the street, etc.), there is something about being in a coffee shop that helps me to focus.

Since Paco is also writing his thesis, he is at home most days of the week, too. This has been really nice, especially since we don’t have to wake that early. We are both of the “8+ hours of sleep each night” persuasion. Canelo is thrilled to have his human servants present during the day to attend to his every whim (most of which involve playing, chasing flies and moths, rolling around and meowing, and biting the hands that feed him).

In his more docile moments, Canelo really sleeps like this.

Last week, I realized that I really missed eating empanadas. They have empanadas here in Guadalajara, but they are sweet pastries filled with jam. In fact, here are many kinds of empanadas in Latin America, but the ones I wanted are, as far as I know, the Southern Mexican style. In Chiapas, they serve these fried, breaded treats in cenadurías and in food stands at festivals. There are three kinds: potato, cheese and ground beef. They are served with finely shredded cabbage and a spicy, thin tomato sauce. Since Paco’s mom makes them, Paco called her to ask for the recipe, and we made them for the first time last night.

First, Paco made the dough with Maseca (corn flour), a little wheat flour, and warm water.

At first, it was way too sticky. So we paused and called Paco’s mom for help. Meanwhile, I cooked the tomatoes, peeled the skins off and dropped them in the blender with a little chile habanero and salt to make the salsa.

After adding more Maseca and water, the masa (dough) had reached the appropriate consistency.

If we had a tortilla press, it would have been easier to press small balls of the dough into the thin, round shape we needed. Instead, we used a cutting board and a plastic plate as a makeshift press. While Paco prepared the dough, I stuffed and sealed the empanadas with the smashed potatoes and cheese.

Then, we heated up some oil (ok, a lot of oil) in the pan, and dropped in the first empanadas.

We had a small snag when the cheese empanadas split open, but we learned an important lesson for next time: don’t stuff them too much.

After frying several batches, we sat down to have dinner and try the empanadas.

They turned out really well, especially the potato ones. Although Paco says they didn’t quite measure up to his mom’s empanadas, I think we did a pretty good job considering it was our first attempt.

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