Saludos Amigos Movie Night Food
“A warm handshake or two, Good friends always do”–Saludos Amigos (Saludos Amigos)
Each month, as I focus on a new Disney animated movie, I create a meal inspired by the film. I’ll be the first to admit that my cooking skills are pretty novice. I’m much more confident experimenting with mocktails and cocktails than I am in the kitchen. Because of that, I mostly use recipes I find online, and I always link to the original recipe so you can check it out for yourself.
Beef Empanadas
Since Saludos Amigos visits several countries throughout South America, I wanted to include dishes inspired by different regions featured in the film. Argentina is well known for its empanadas, so they were the perfect place to start.
I had actually never tried an empanada before because the ones I usually find at food trucks are filled with cheese, and I don't eat cheese. I was excited to find a recipe that didn't require it.
These ended up being even better than I expected. I looked forward to eating the leftovers every day and was genuinely disappointed when they were gone. Normally I'm not much of a leftovers person, but these reheated surprisingly well.
I will admit I cheated a little and bought pre-made empanada dough instead of making it from scratch. I found some at Publix, and it worked perfectly.
Ensalada Criolla
This salad kept appearing while I was researching menu ideas. I couldn't find it tied to one specific country, so I'm just calling it a general South American-inspired salad.
This actually ended up being my favorite item on the entire menu, which surprised me. The biggest lesson I learned was that the size of the vegetables really matters. I was a little lazy with my chopping, and after tasting it, I realized the salad would have been even better if everything had been diced smaller. Smaller pieces would have blended the flavors together more evenly.
Even with my larger cuts, though, I absolutely loved it.
Brazilian Brigadeiros
As the name suggests, this was my Brazilian-inspired dessert.
Since I love chocolate, I couldn't resist trying these. It was my first time making anything like them, so I followed the recipe as closely as I could.
Mine didn't turn out quite right, but they were still delicious. They ended up much stickier than they were supposed to be, and I think I simply didn't cook the mixture long enough. I was so worried about burning the chocolate, something I've unfortunately done before, that I probably took it off the heat too early.
Even though mine weren't picture perfect, they're still a must-try for anyone who loves chocolate.
