Christmas is coming, and winter’s already here, even here on the Costa Blanca. It may be 20 degrees plus in the daytime and still sunbathing weather, but the evenings are cool and comfort food is the order of the day.
This recipe comes from Galicia, in Northern Spain. It’s simple enough for any meal, and also special enough to form part of your Christmas supper table. It can be eaten hot or cold.
Use lomo, or thinly sliced pork, available in any good Spanish supermarket. I make this with a mixture of plain and marinaded lomo, which makes for an interesting combination of colours and flavours.
Pork Empanada a la Galiciana
These ingredients will give 4 – 6 generous servings.
300grms of pork lomo
1 teaspoon of paprika
¼ teaspoon chilli powder
1 tablespoon of freeze dried parsley
1 clove of garlic
2 medium onions
1 green pepper
Jar or tin of red pimientos
3 whole tinned tomatoes
2 tablespoons of tomato frito (fresh tomato paste)
Shortcrust pastry made with 500grms flour, 250grms butter and water
3 eggs
Salt and black pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
Hard boil 2 eggs.
Sprinkle pork lomo slices with the paprika, chilli and 1 teaspoon of parsley. Leave to marinade.
Finely chop the onions, garlic and green pepper.
Heat two tablespoons of the olive oil into a saucepan. Add onions, garlic and pepper and cook until soft (about 10 minutes).
Add the parsley and the chopped tinned tomatoes. Season with freshly ground salt and pepper. Simmer for about 30 to 40 minutes until the mixture is very soft with the texture of a chunky sauce. Stir occasionally to prevent burning.
Heat one tablespoon of olive oil in a large frying pan and fry the lomo slices quickly until just turning golden. For a smokier flavour, cook for a few minutes on a hot barbecue instead.
Roll just over half of the pastry to cover the inside of an approximately 20cms wide by 4cms deep greased pie dish.
Spoon half the pepper and onion mixture into the pie dish, spreading it evenly across the pastry. Now layer the lomo slices on top of mixture. Then thinly slice the peeled hard boiled eggs layer on top of the lomo slices. Now slice the red pimientos and layer over the eggs.
Layer the rest of the pepper and onion mix carefully on top of everything else. Roll out remaining pastry and cover the top of the pie, moistening edges and crimping together with thumbs into a pattern.
Cook the pie in a medium hot oven (180ºC) for about half an hour. Remove from the oven and brush with beaten egg to glaze. Return the pie to the oven for a further 15 to 20 minutes more until thoroughly cooked.
Buen Apetito!
First published on 10 December 2008
text: Sandra Piddock / Expatica
The writer, Sandra Piddock, is originally from the UK. She moved from Cornwall to Costa Blanca in May 2009 and maintains a website in her spare time.