Empanada

From Eating Asturias, the Encyclopedia of Asturian Gastronomy


Empanada

Empanada, a large savory pie, is popular all over Spain, but is especially loved in Asturias and Galicia. Here I take the best of the regional variations and create a dough that will work for any filling you might want to use.
Summary
Type Categories
Technique Category
Origin Category
Time:1 hour, 15 minutes
Difficulty:Easy
Nutrition
Nutrition Facts
Serving Size 1 piece Servings in recipe 8
Amount Per Serving
Calories 319 Calories from Fat 117
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 13g 20%
    Saturated Fat 1.9g 10%
    Trans Fat 0g
    Monounsaturated Fat 8.9g
    Polyunsaturated Fat 1.6g
      Omega-3 93mg
      Omega-6 1199mg
Cholesterol 23mg 8%
Sodium 1039mg 1%
Total Carbohydrate 43.6g 15%
    Dietary Fiber 1.7g 7%
    Sugars 1g
Protein 6.3g
Vitamin A 14% Folate 42%
Vitamin B1 41% Vitamin B2 27%
Vitamin B3 24% Vitamin B5 7%
Vitamin B6 4% Vitamin B12 2%
Vitamin C 0% Vitamin D 1%
Vitamin E 13% Vitamin K 9%
Calcium 5% Copper 10%
Iron 17% Magnesium 5%
Manganese 22% Phosphorus 12%
Potassium 2% Selenium 37%
Sodium 43% Zinc 6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.
Calories 2,000 2,500
Total Fat Less than 65g 80g
  Sat Fat Less than 20g 25g
Cholesterol Less than 300mg 300mg
Sodium Less than 2,400mg 2,400mg
Total Carbohydrate 300g 375g
  Dietary Fiber 25g 30g

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”.

Empanada Dough Ingredients[1]

This recipe makes one large Spanish style empanada, which is roughly the size of a medium pizza. Unlike the round Galician empanada, the Asturian one is most commonly found as a rectangle. That may have something to do with the popularity of empanada as an espicha nibble in Asturias. In that setting, being able to cut your empanada into nice squares for serving is paramount.

  • 500 g All-Purpose Flour.
  • 5 g sweet paprika.
  • 20 g salt.
  • 150 ml olive oil.
  • 150 ml dry white wine or still cider.
  • 1 large egg

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the flour, salt, egg, paprika, and cider or wine.
  2. Using the paddle attachment, mix on slow until you get a nice shaggy dough that can't quite hold together.
  3. Slowly drizzle the olive oil into the mixer until the whole mass comes together into a smooth homogeneous mass.
  4. Stop the mixer and either switch to the dough hook or knead by hand. Either way, it will take about 15 minutes of mixing to develop all of the gluten in the dough.
  5. Dump the dough into a bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 2-3 hours.
  6. Begin preheating your oven to 200C.
  7. Divide the dough in half, and return one half to the covered bowl.
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. Place the larger rectangle of dough on a baking sheet and add your filling.
  11. 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.
    1. You want to repulgar the edges of your empanada - close them in a way that doesn't allow any filling to leak out. The standard american way to do this is repulgado tenedor, sealing with a fork. In Asturias, we prefer a more decorative fold and twist style of closure. There is a great video demonstrating the technique, along with several other types of closure. Choose whichever one you prefer!
  12. 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.
  13. Brush the whole top of the empanada with the beaten egg, using roughly half of it.
  14. Put it into the preheated oven and bake for ~30 Minutes.
  15. 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.
  16. Let cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

Notes

  • The filling should be cold when you put it on the dough. Don't add hot filling to your empanada unless you like soggy pastry that won't hold together.
  • Though my recipe calls for olive oil, you can use another type of oil if you prefer. Not only will a flavorless cooking oil be cheaper, it will allow the flavor of the filling ingredients to shine.
  • Once cooled, you can keep an empanada in the refrigerator for about a week.
  • If you refrigerate your empanada, make sure you remove it from the fridge several hours before eating it. Like most party food, it is designed to be eaten at room temperature.
  1. This recipe is adapted liberally from a published recipe by Isabel Fraga Blanco in her column La cocina de Frabisa in the newspaper La Voz de Galicia. My hearty thanks to Isabel and her aunt Aurita from who the recipe originates.