“In Chile these folded meat pies, considered to be the national dish, are so treasured that soon after Salvador Allende was elected president in 1970, he spoke of celebrating his brand of revolution not with violence, but 'with red wine and empanadas.'"—Florence Fabricant
After several attempts to choose a restaurant to have dinner together Susan and Nelson Bye, our neighbors, friends and traveling companions graciously offered to host our feast at their home at Rinconada Hills, a quarter of a mile up the road from us. It was an offer we couldn’t refuse.
Susie has been raving about Cafe Mina’s authentic, traditional empanadas at Saratoga Prince of Peace Farmers Market, open on Wednesdays from 2 PM to 6 PM for some time now. If anyone should know about Chilean empanadas, it is Susie who was born in Quito, Ecuador, and two years later moved to Chile with her family. Later, they moved to the United States where raised her own family. We knew her when our respective children were young, and reunited with her and Nelson after we moved to Rinconada Hills over six years ago.
The empanadas were everything Susie claimed they were: delicious, savory and abundant. She and Nelson served us three kinds: beef, chicken and vegetarian. Nelson also made roast chicken, and he and Susie served a variety of salads and a side of asparagus. For dessert we enjoyed chocolate chip cookies from Levain bakery from New York that Cecile and I provided.
We provided a bottle of Banshee Mordecai Red, and Nelson served us a Tobin James 5 varietals mix that include: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Cabernet Franc, Petit Verdot, and Malbec from his private collection.
Postscript: The Chilean empanada habit came from Spain, where empanadas have been documented since the 13th century. "To Chileans, empanadas mostly mean empanadas al horno, which are frequently baked in a wood-burning oven. The classic versions are filled with seasoned minced (not ground) meat and onions and garnished with hard-boiled egg, olives and raisins,” adds Fabricant in the New York Times (April 14, 2009)
