Name: Lobster Empañadas
Yield: Makes 8 to 10 main course empanadas or 20 to 25 hors d'oeuvre-sized empanaditas
Ingredients: 1/4 pound unsalted butter, at room temperature; 4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature; 2 cups unbleached flour; 1/2 teaspoon baking powder; 1 teaspoon ground cumin; 1/4 teaspoon cider vinegar; 6 to 8 tablespoons very cold water; 1 tablespoon vegetable oil; 6 ounces fresh lobster or langostino meat, cooked, shelled and roughly chopped (or saltwater or fresh water crayfish); 1/2 cup alioli or homemade mayonnaise; 1 tablespoon tomato purée; 1 tablespoon cognac; 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard; 1/3 cup finely chopped scallions, including green part; 1 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt; 1/4 teaspoon white pepper; 2 to 3 hard-boiled eggs, cut lengthwise into 8 pieces; 16 to 20 pimiento-stuffed green olives; 1 large egg, beaten; 2 tablespoons water

Empanadas de Bariloche

This recipe is excerpted from Shirley Lomax Brooks's book Argentina Cooks! We've also added some tips of our own below.

To read more about Argentine cuisine, click here.

High in the Andes, near the border with Chile, is the all-season splendor of San Carlos de Bariloche. At Christmastime it's a fairyland of cobalt lakes, forested islands, and manicured parklands surrounded by snow-capped alpine peaks. In the center of a small peninsula stands the rustic but elegant Llao Llao Hotel, a holiday mecca for the elite of Buenos Aires, Santiago, and even Paris, Düsseldorf, London, Madrid and Milan. When not attending the hotel's casino (closed as of this writing), guests spend their time dining in exquisite surroundings on international cuisine as well as impeccably fresh seafood from the Pacific coast of Chile. Hence, recipes such as Empanadas de Bariloche frequently straddle the border.

Recipe notes