Recipe - Empanada de Atún

Empanadas are a hugely traditional dish in Spain, and come in all sorts of shapes and sizes, with some of the most famous varieties being found in the northern areas of Galicia, Asturias and Cantabria.

Here in Andalucia, the empanada is typically a shallow pie, filled with meat, chicken or tuna, and is perfect for a quick supper or summer picnic as the crimped crust works in a similar fashion to the crust on a Cornish Pasty - as a grab handle!

Although you can buy empanadas in many panaderias and supermarkets, there are not many that can beat a homemade one. This is adapted from a traditional recipe by Spanish chef, David Gonzalo and works very well, with a tasty tuna filling.

Empanada de Atún

Ingredients

For the pastry

200 ml Olive Oil
500 g plain flour
2 medium eggs
10 g baking powder
150 ml white wine
Pinch of salt

For the filling

1 large onion, finely chopped
300 g tinned tuna (in olive oil, but drained)
2 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped
80 g chopped red pepper
100 g olives (I use those stuffed with pimiento)

Method

To make the pastry, place the flour, a pinch of salt and baking powder in a mixing bowl and create a well in the centre. Add the 2 eggs and the white wine and mix together well. Once these ingredients have been incorporated, start to add the olive oil slowly to bring everything together to form a ball.  Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 10 - 15 minutes.

While the pastry is chilling, gently fry the chopped onion and red pepper until soft.

Place the tuna, chopped olives and chopped hard boiled eggs into a bowl. When the chopped onion and pepper mix has cooled add this to the tuna mix and stir all the ingredients together.

Grease a 20-24 cm shallow pie dish (preferable one with a removable base). Divide the pastry into two equal portions and roll out the first half thinly to line the base of the pie dish to overlap the sides.

Fill with the tuna mix and brush the edges of the pastry base with beaten egg.

Roll out the second ball of pastry and then score the top to create a sort of lattice pattern then cover the mix. Bring the edges of the bottom layer of pastry over the top layer and then crimp using a knife to seal all the way round. Brush all over the top with beaten egg.

Place in the oven at 180 C and bake for 35 minutes until golden brown. Allow to cool as this tends to taste better once it has cooled.