Empanada

While most popular, and popularly associated with, neighboring Galicia, the empanada is a well-loved part of Asturian gastronomy. They are as ubiquitous here as the tortilla de patatas is further south in Spain. While all of Spain likes a good empanada, it is really the northwest where they become a way of life.

The empanada dough recipes you find in the States are very different from what it is in Spain. Egg Yolks, butter, lard… these recipes sound like sweet pastries and have nothing to do with traditional Spanish empanada. A Spanish style dough is much closer to a Cornish Pasty than a North or South American version. It is also much larger. What we call an empanada in the US is an empanadilla in Spain.

At the bottom of this post is a standard recipe for a basic dough you can use to make Spanish style empanadas or emapanadillas. But first, let’s talk about what should go inside your empanada.

What Goes In An Empanada?

While there are some classic empanada fillings, your imagination is the only limit to the filling. In Galicia, the classic filling is tuna with tomatoes and peppers. In the mountains of Asturias and León, a variety with ham, smoked chorizo, and hard boiled eggs reigns supreme. On the Asturian coast, Bonito with zucchini, onion, and green peppers is king. In Valencia, they love to stuff them with pisto.

Let your imagination run wild! Here are a few of my favorite empanada fillings:

Maria Luisa’s Empanada Filling

María Luisa García Sanchez is to Asturias what Irma Rombauer is to the United States. Her cookbook el arte de cocinar (The Art of Cooking) has been the standard reference cookbook for home cooks in Asturias since 1970. In it, she shares an ‘empanada asturiana‘ recipe that I really enjoy.¹

Once you have rolled out your empanada dough, lay out the following:

• 3 hard boiled eggs, sliced
• 150 g of jamón (use country ham), sliced like thick bacon
• 200 g of smoked chorizo, fried and sliced

My Take on an Asturian Filling

I love picadillo. The uncased chorizo mix, before curing, smoking, or otherwise processing, is a great ingredient. The longer I live here, the more I find myself replacing ground beef with it in recipes. You can find this in Mexican carnicerías as bulk chorizo, if you don’t feel like making your own.

To make a picadillo empanada filling, take either one recipe of my picadillo or 500 g of uncased chorizo and fry it in a pan with:

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 shishito pepper, seeded and chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic, diced fine
• 1 tomato, peeled and chopped

When all the liquid from the tomato has evaporated, turn off the heat and let it cool a bit. This will fill one empanada.

The recipe below is a more standardized interpretation of the actual recipe, which is usually stated as “equal parts white wine and olive oil, however much pimentón and salt you prefer, and enough flour to make it all come together”.

Ingredients

• 450 g All-Purpose Flour.
• 5 g sweet paprika.
• 5 g baking powder.
• 20 g salt.
• 100 ml olive oil.
• 75 ml dry white wine or still cider.
• 75 ml water.
• 1 large egg, beaten.

Instructions

1. Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl and whisk well
2. Combine all of the liquid ingredients in another container.
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, and mix by hand until it comes together in a thick dough. If it is too dry, or still “shaggy” add a little more water, one tablespoon at a time.
4. Cover the dough and allow it to rest for an hour or more.
5. Begin preheating your oven to 200C.
6. Divide the dough in half, and return one half to the covered bowl.
7. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the other half of the dough, making a rectangle. This will take practice. I find it best to get to a rough rectangle and then trim and reassemble the pieces as needed. You are looking for a final rectangle roughly 12 × 16-inch (30 × 40-cm) in size.
8. Repeat the rolling process with the second half of the dough, but roll it out into a rectangles ever so slightly smaller than the first.
9. Place the larger rectangle of dough on a baking sheet and add your filling.
10. Gently lay the smaller dough sheet on top, and either fold the bottom edge over the top and crimp, or simply crimp them together with a fork.
11. Using a small circular cutter, or a sharp knife, cut a chimney in the center of the empanada to allow steam to escape. You can additionally poke it all over with a fork.
12. Brush the whole top of the empanada with the beaten egg, using roughly half of it.
13. Put it into the preheated oven and bake for ~30 Minutes.
14. Working quickly, brush the top again with the remaining egg, and return it to the oven for another 15 Minutes, or until it is a deep, glossy brown.
15. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.