Fill your pockets

Fill your pockets with Albertamade empanadas

rispy on the outside, chock-full of filling inside, empanadas are baked or fried where all manner of savoury, cheesy, and sweet fillings are encased in hot pockets of dough. The word empanada itself comes from the Spanish verb empar, which means “wrapped or coated in bread.”

The original empanada is the Galician empanada from Spain which was a single, large circular or rectangular pie that was cut into individual servings. Now these portable individual-size hand pies, a staple street food of Latin American countries, are a common sight on restaurant menus, food trucks, magazine covers and in cookbooks everywhere.

In Alberta, empanadas are steadily making their mark on the food scene. When she first opened Empanada Queen in Calgary 10 years ago, owner Kathy Vallejos says empanadas weren’t that easy to come by. Now, Empanada Queen is a regular at festivals and markets and a destination for Calgary and area residents, and even Edmontonians who come for her Chilean empanadas. “Empanadas are a lot more simple than people think they are,” says Vallejos. “It’s simple clean cooking that’s wrapped in beautiful dough. It’s meat and bread—homey, comfort food.” C

These portable individual-size hand pies, a staple street food of Latin American countries, are a common sight on restaurant menus, food trucks, magazine covers and in cookbooks everywhere.

The filling Empanadas are traditionally filled with meat, like beef, chicken or pork, but vegan or vegetarian empanadas are gaining popularity as chefs experiment with different fillings for the versatile food item.

“I try to not just hit the Latino market,” says Vallejos. “I wanted it to be for everyone. That’s why I have all those vegetarian and vegan options so we can make it for everyone. Ultimately, there is no right or wrong way to make an empanada.”

It’s also through the filling ingredients that you can discern an empanada’s country of origin—in Argentina, there are raisins and eggs; in Chilean empanadas, you’ll find a slice of egg and a black olive inside, while potatoes are distinctly a Colombian thing.

“The filling is the most important thing because it is the flavour you choose to eat,” says Patricia Capuzzi of Heaven Restaurant, a Venezuelan Calgary hotspot.

Her 17th Avenue restaurant is known for a choice of 23 different flavours of gluten-free mini empanadas, including cheese and guava, chorizo, black bean and plantain, beef, as well as seafood, duck or lamb. Her empanada dough is made with corn flour, plantain and unprocessed sugar, all made by hand and from scratch.

The dough Generally, countries in South America like Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, and Peru, make the dough for their empanadas using wheat flour, while in Venezuela, El Salvador, Costa Rica and Guatemala, it’s all about corn flour. A sign of dough made well is that when cooked, it’s soft and crispy and stays together. Max Labhardt is a seasoned chef who has worked in kitchens downtown including the Marriott, Westin, and Hyatt. He’s currently the Culinary Director at Calgary Sports and Entertainment Corporation, and has been the executive chef for the Calgary Flames for the last decade. His latest venture Good Fillin is a wholesale empanada business— meaning you’re likely enjoying his empanadas at Spruce Meadows, the Petroleum Club and at Calgary airport without even realizing it.

His empanadas are Venezuelan-style two-bite morsels that come in four different flavours: beef, chicken, wild mushroom, and vegetarian. The vegetarian empanada, filled with carrots, celery, onion, parsley, sweet potato, corn, and black bean, is by far Labhardt’s bestseller.

He makes his dough with three types of corn flour (yellow,

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Top spots to get empanadas in Alberta

Good Fillin Empanadas Bay 438, 53 Avenue SE, Calgary 403-860-9463

Heaven Artisan GF Cuisine 1013 17 Avenue SW, Calgary 403-249-3037, heavengf.com

Empanada Queen 4412 Manilla Road SE, Calgary 403-235-0686, empanadaqueen.ca

El Fogon Latino 8026 118 Avenue NW, Edmonton 780-756-8388, el-fogon-latino.com

MyEmpanadas 11460 42 Avenue, Edmonton 780-756-1345

white, and whole grain) depending on the empanada flavour. He says, “it’s just flour and water, and salt, and a tiny bit of sugar which helps caramelization when they’re fried, and cornstarch makes it a bit flakier too.”

To bake or to fry Kevin Goncalves, owner of El Fogon Latino, a Venezuelan restaurant in Edmonton out by the Coliseum, says that while Chilean style empanadas are typically baked, most empanadas are fried. At his family-run restaurant, you’ll find arepas, pupusas, cachapas and a variety of empanadas including Colombian, Argentinian, Chilean and even Salvadorian pastelitos—empanadashaped meat pastries made from corn flour.

“Venezuela, Colombia, El Salvador— we all deep fry,” he laughs. “You can’t go wrong with deep-fried. I like Colombian and Venezuelan style because they’re crispy and you have a bit of sweetness

from the corn flour, giving the contrast between sweet and salty.”

Empanadas to heat and eat at home For those in the empanada business in Alberta, the newest trend now seems to be focused on making their empanadas more readily available for customers to take home and cook themselves.

Labhardt says he’s finalizing packaging this year to retail his frozen empanadas in stores like Co-op and Sunterra Market. Vallejos already sells smaller versions of her empanadas frozen for customers to take home. And if you want to sample the highlights of Heaven’s gluten-free mini empanadas, Capuzzi sells convenient, frozen packs of six empanadas in five flavours that are heat-and-eat ready.

Lynda Sea is a freelance writer/editor based in Calgary. Her writing has appeared in Avenue, Westjet Magazine, enRoute, Flare. You can often find her hiking in the Canadian Rockies and eating her way through Alberta.

Heaven’s Cilantro Sauce Hot sauce, guacamole, pico de gallo and salsa are common sides for empanadas. Whether or not to sauce or dip an empanada comes down to personal preference. Heaven’s Patricia Capuzzi offers cilantro and roasted garlic mayo-based sauces for her mini empanadas and shares her recipe here.

Makes 1 cup (250 mL)

1 bunch cilantro 1 cup (250 mL) mayonnaise 1–2 limes, juiced 1 garlic clove

Cut off the bottom of the cilantro stems, and chop. Add all the ingredients to your blender or food processor, and process until well mixed.

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