I was just thinking back to my time in Venezuela and a particular meal that I miss a lot:  Empanadas




There are several variations of empanadas throughout Latin America.  Some are baked, some deep fried.  Some full of sweet fruits and preserves, others with beans and rice, cheese, fish, beef and potatoes, etc.  Some use wheat flour crusts while others use corn flour.

My favorite Empanada was the type I ate every morning in my last area in Maracaibo, Venezuela.  There was a little roadside stand where this man made the most heavenly Empanadas.  He'd use a thick yellow corn flour crust (similar to the empanadas in the first picture) and I think he added some honey to it, because it was sweet.  Inside would be a thick filling of ground beef and potatoes and the whole thing would be deep fried.

So every morning for over 4 months I'd head over to this stand, buy two of these heavenly emanadas, and wash them down with a grape soda.

I can't express just how awesome it was to bite through that thick, sweet, corn-flour crust into the meat and potatoes inside.  I really miss it because there aren't a lot of places I know of around here that make empanadas just like the ones I loved so much.

So how about you all?  Any foods (exotic or otherwise) that you really miss eating for one reason or another?