Baked Empanadas with Ebisu za Black

Feeling pretty jubilant after the Chilean miners rescue operation, One Woman was gripped by a sudden desire to make empanadas for the fam to celebrate the mision cumplida. These babies are seriously, *so good.* This baked empanada recipe courtesy of the fabulous Chef Dré. Check her website here to enjoy them for yourself! Really. Enjoyed all over the world with infinite variation, empanadas are the classic comfort food. Buttery, toasty, warm, soft, and cuddly.


The beer: Ebisu za black--found in mom's fridge. Technically, it's a dark lager, but it's got a little metallic tang to it that brings it a bit towards the red ale category in terms of flavor. If you look at if closely, it's got a bit of a reddish tint too. Since the dark caramel malt used is already deep in color from the beginning, the actual roast isn't as dark as it looks. A bit of bitterness doesn't overpower other elements, and it has a nice balance with the grassy hop and burnt sugar flavors. Nothing too complex here; perhaps not the first thing I would have paired with the empanadas, but the color has impact, and the taste can hold up against the bold flavors of the empanada filling: tuna with a slow-cooked onion, garlic, tomato, red pepper, and paprika base mixed with little cubes of egg and potato, and herbs. Yum. 

The musical pairing: While we're going for a bit of unusual combos here, I'm goingin the out-direction with the Mary Halvorson Quintet. Like the empanada, this music is a lot of things, and it's tasty: a bit of indie rock, a bit of Anthony Braxton, a bit of Sun Ra, a bit of Ethiopiques, and disastrously Mary with sweet delay pedals to mess with your food comma'd brain. Click the link to hear "Sea Seizures (No. 19)" from her new album, Saturn Sings.