My boyfriend lived in Buenos Aires during his Junior year abroad. A week before the World Cup began he bought a flat brim Argentina baseball cap and continued to wear it for the entire tournament. When, for a brief moment, it looked like the USA was going to play Argentina in the quarter finals (set to be played on the Fourth of July), I asked him “Who are you going to route for? Argentina or USA? WIthout missing a beat he said, “Argentina”. When they made it into the Finals he declared we were having an empanada party. So an empanada party is what we had!

We decked out our dog, marinated some meat and served up some game time homemade guacamole, salsa verde and two types of pico de gayo (Spicy and Super Spicy). Even though Argentina lost, after the game we had an Argentian-ish style meal as a conciliation prize! As the boys got the grill ready, I recruited a gaggle of pretty girls to help me roll up tiny cheese and beef empanadas (not pictured, sorry! I’ll get better at this). Alongside the grilled skirt steak I made chimichurri sauce (heavy on the cilantro and garlic cause that’s how I like it). The empanadas came out surprisingly well (especially since it was the first time I’d ever made them). The dough was delicious, buttery and crispy and most importantly extremely forgiving – considering our awkward attempts at empanada rolling. the filling didn’t leak and the pastry stayed neatly in its half moon shape as they turned golden brown in the oven. Next time I make empanadas, I want to tweak my filling recipe and definitely  make some sort of chipotle yogurt dipping sauce to go along. Once that’s perfected, I can share the recipe!