Empanada Gallega (Galician pie)

slice of empanada gallega sitting on top of more of pie.

5 from 2 votes

This savory pie has a simple yet delicious filling packed with softened vegetables, tuna and egg. A tasty snack or lunch.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1

Total Time1 30

Course: Lunch, Snack

Cuisine: Spanish

Servings: approx

Calories: 593kcal

Author: Caroline

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Ingredients

For pastry

½ teaspoon active dry yeast
¼ cup warm water (lukewarm rather than hot)
1 ¾ cups all purpose flour plain flour
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon sweet paprika
¼ cup virgin olive oil
3 tablespoon white wine (can use additional water if you prefer)

For filling

1 large onion
1 large red pepper
2 tomatoes or 1 if large
5 oz tuna in oil 1 regular can/tin, save oil, see notes
¼ cup olive oil use some from tuna then top up
1 hard boiled egg

For brushing

1 egg as eggwash - won't need all

Instructions

To make pastry

Add the yeast to the warm water and leave it to bloom for around 10 minutes. Meanwhile, measure out the flour, salt and paprika in a bowl and gently whisk to combine.
Add the yeast-water, olive oil and wine to the flour mixture and mix everything well so that the dough comes together. If it is too dry, add a little more water but add gradually so it doesn't become too wet.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for around 5 minutes so that it is smooth. It might seem a little bumpy and dry compared to a butter crust or bread, but as long as it is not flaking or crumbling, it should be fine. Cover the dough and leave to rest for around 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you can make the filling.

To make the filling

Dice the onion and pepper in a relatively small dice. Cut the tomato in half and grate the inside, so that you get tomato pulp and remove the skin and any tough stem.
Warm the oil in a wide skillet/frying pan over a medium heat - I start by draining the oil from the canned tuna then top up the measure with other olive oil. Note using the oil from the tuna can mean there is a little moisture in there which can spurt as warm it, but it will be fine once you add the vegetables.
Once the oil is warm, add the onion and peppers and cook for a good few minutes, stirring now and then, so that the vegetables soften and the onion goes translucent. This can easily take 10 or more minutes as you want them nicely soft. Don't let the vegetables brown - there is plenty of oil to help with this but reduce the heat if needed as well.
Once the onion is translucent, add the tomato and cook for another couple of minutes until well softened and combined. Add the tuna, break up as needed and mix then remove the mixture from the heat. Allow to cool to room temperature and try to let the pan sit tilted to help drain off the excess oil from the filling.
Once the mixture has cooled, transfer the drained filling to a bowl. Dice the hard boiled egg and mix this in gently.

Forming and baking pie

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a rectangle. If you like, you can leave as one large piece (around 15x11in, 38x28cm) and fold over the top, but I find two smaller pieces slightly easier to work with (this is what I show in the video). Once you have partly rolled the dough, divide roughly in half and roll each half out further. Roll one piece for the base to around 8x11in (20x28cm) and the piece for the top to around 7x10in (18x25cm). Slightly smaller with a thicker filling is also fine.
Line a baking sheet with parchment and place the slightly larger base piece of pastry on top. If needed, slightly trim the edges to be move even - you can use the trimmed pieces to decorate the top.
Top the pastry with the filling mixture, leaving an edge around the outside with no filling on it of around ⅔in (2cm). Try to make the filling relatively even and gently flattened on top. Place the other piece of pastry over the top of the filling and gently stretch the pastry over the filling so that it joins with the pastry below.
Working from one corner, crimp the edges of the pastry by gently pulling and folding it in on itself a little at a time (see video). If you are unsure about crimping, you could also just fold over the edge and press to seal with a fork, but crimping is a little prettier.
Cut a small hole in the middle of the pastry to form a vent for steam. If you have scraps of trimmed pastry, roll these out thinly, cut into strips and use these to decorate the top of the pie.
Brush the pie all over with egg wash (lightly beaten egg) then bake for around 40 minutes until the pastry is golden. Allow to cool slightly and enjoy either warm or at room temperature.

Video

Notes

This is around half the size of a 'typical' empanada gallega, but is a size that more suits our family. If you prefer a larger size, simple double everything, roll pastry to around twice the size and use a half sheet pan for the bigger pie.

Traditionally, you use fresh yeast rather than dry but it can be hard to source - if you do have some and prefer to use that, use double the weight of fresh compared to dry.

Some people chose to make the filling first (you can make a day ahead) and use the excess oil in the dough filling. I haven't here just since it takes a little longer. But if you do, reverse the order and make the filling first so that you then have the oil for the dough.

The most typical tuna for this is "bonito del norte" so a high quality tuna - use this if available or albacore is next closest.

Nutrition

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