YLC’s expat cookbook goes Spanish this month – bringing you the best that the country offers! These little Spanish pastries are the ultimate tapa to wash down with at least una cerveza, por favor.
Empanadas and empanadillas are little pastries, filled with ingredients of your choice. In South America, empanadas are generally filled with beef (think superior Cornish Pastry), but in Galicia, with its wonderful seafood options, tuna is the only way to go.
Ingredients:
1 Packet Puff Pastry
2 tablespoons Olive Oil
2 Spanish Onions, chopped
225g Fresh Tomatoes
400g can of Tuna in oil, drained
1 Large Red Pepper (Capsicum)
10 black olives, stoned and quartered
4 Saffron Threads
1 Beaten Egg
Directions
- Heat oil in a large frying pan, add onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 4 minutes until softened. Peel, seed and chop tomatoes and pepper, stir into pan and simmer until thickened. Flake tuna. Peel and chop pepper and stir into pan with tuna and olives. Crush saffron threads and dissolve in 2 tablespoons hot water. Add to pan. Simmer until well combined, then set aside.
- Preheat oven to 200C / 400F / Gas 6
- Grease a baking sheet and transfer puff pastry sheet to it. Spread filling over half the pastry, leaving a narrow border clear all the way round. Dampen border with water and then fold the pastry over to make a big parcel, pressing the edges together. Glaze with beaten egg and cut a slit in centre. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes until golden. Serve warm, cut into rectangles or squares.
