Variation · pie
Sabbath empanada
The spiced meat from the pot, baked in an olive-oil pastry. Bake it on Friday, eat it at room temperature on Saturday.
- 6–8 servings
- 1 h prep
- 45 min in the oven
You'll need
Pastry
- 500 g plain flour
- 120 ml olive oil
- 200 ml warm water
- 1 tsp salt
Filling
- 700 g beef or mutton, chopped fine with a knife
- 2 onions, chopped
- 4 tbsp olive oil
- 1 tsp pepper, 1 coriander seed, ½ cumin, 1 cm ginger, a pinch of cinnamon
- 150 g cooked chickpeas, crushed (optional)
- Salt
How to make it
- The pastry. Mix the flour and salt, add the oil and rub it in with your fingertips until it looks like wet sand. Add the warm water a little at a time until you have a smooth, soft dough that doesn't stick to your hands. Knead 5 minutes, cover and rest 30 minutes.
- The filling. Cook the onions in the oil over medium heat until golden, about 10 minutes. Turn up the heat, add the meat and fry, breaking it up, until browned and all the juices have cooked away. Add the spices, crushed chickpeas and salt and cook 3 minutes more. The filling should be dry. Spread it on a plate and let it cool completely.Warm filling makes a soggy bottom.
- Assemble. Heat the oven to 180 °C. Roll ⅔ of the pastry to 3–4 mm and line a 24 cm tin, leaving some overhang. Add the cold filling and level it. Roll the rest for the lid, cover, fold the overhang over and press with a fork. Cut a hole in the centre for steam.
- Bake 45–50 minutes, until well browned on top and pulling away from the sides. For small empanadas, cut 12 cm circles, fill, fold into half-moons and bake 25–30 minutes.
- Before sundown, cool on a rack and cover with a cloth. On Saturday, serve in slices at room temperature.
The story behind it
In Almazán around 1505, a witness said a converso household made “carne picada frita en aseyte … vnas enpanadas”, pies of chopped meat fried in oil (A Drizzle of Honey, p. 315). A pie baked on Friday was classic Sabbath food. Branca's dish was a pot, so this is a variation.