The Grill From Empanada
Apr. 23rd, 2009 01:17 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
madbakerThis week's Resolution Recipe: Tuna in crust.
This is going to look like a lot of work, and that's part of what kept me from making it until now. But it really isn't, especially if the dough is already made.
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j_i_m_r, with comments by me in italics.
Dough:
2 lb flour (White flour, as evidenced by the "flower of the flour" comment - that referred to the quality and whiteness. They were able to get very close to modern standards of white flour, especially by late period.)
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz (one stick) unsalted butter, diced (I used 4 oz rendered lard from house-cured bacon, guanciale, and other salted piggy parts.)
6 egg yolks
2 oz rose-water
1 packet dry yeast (not the instant kind)
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
Pulse flour and salt in the food processor. Add butter (or lard) and egg yolks and pulse until mixed. Whisk yeast into warm water; let sit for five minutes to activate, then add rose-water and some of the yeast/water. Pulse and add more/rest of water as needed. Mix by hand for five minutes until quite smooth. Place in an oiled Ziploc bag and refrigerate. When making dough, remove from fridge an hour before using to warm up and remove from bag and knead on a floured surface. Roll out dough and cut into squares approximately 4x4". (I made mine into 3" circles that I folded in half and crimped. I like the smaller size to eat.)
Filling:
1 lb tuna, cubed
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 small pinch saffron, ground; I forgot to add this.
1-2 tsp olive oil
Toss spices and oil with cubed tuna... cubed seemed easier for small turnovers than the "wheels" mentioned in the original. Mound 1/2 cup of fish on a square of dough. (I used about 1 Tbsp for my smaller empanadas.) Moisten edges of doughwith egg white with water and pinch edges of dough together to encase the fish, shaping as you like. Place on a baking sheet and coat with egg white. Bake at 375 for 40 minutes (mine took about 30). Cool on a rack.
What worked: Oddly enough, these were better cold for lunch today than they were warm from the oven. Good balance of spices while still keeping a tuna flavor, and the empanadas themselves were attractive and would be great to pull from a cooler at events.
What didn't: The crust was quite dry. I suspect that adding the oil as the original calls for might have helped a bit, but really it's just going to be the nature of the thing. This recipe makes a huge quantity of dough - I used somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the dough. It was also difficult to roll out thinly. If I was a better pizzaolo I'd know how to work the dough better. Oh well, it should freeze.
Will I make it again? I might.
This is going to look like a lot of work, and that's part of what kept me from making it until now. But it really isn't, especially if the dough is already made.
The tunny or tuna needs to be fresh; and cut it into round, thin wheels of three fingers [in thickness], and then wash it very well, and cast upon the wheels: pepper, and salt, and ginger, and a little saffron; and all this should be well-ground; and then make the empanadas and cast a little oil inside and cover it, and let it go to the oven; and if they wish to eat it cold, remove the broth, as I have said in other chapters, because with the juice you can not keep it long. And tuna is commonly eaten in this manner.The following redaction is by
Ruperto de Nola, Libre del Coch, 1529. Translation by Robin Carroll-Mann.
Knead two pounds of the flower of the flour with six yolks of fresh eggses, and two ounces of rosewater, and ounce of leaven diluted with tepid water, and four ounces of fresh cow's butter, or pork lard which has no bad odor, and salt, and be stirring said dough for the space of half an hour, and make a thin leaf or pastry...
Diego Granado, Libro del Arte de Cozina, 1599.Translation by Robin Carroll-Mann.
j_i_m_r, with comments by me in italics.Dough:
2 lb flour (White flour, as evidenced by the "flower of the flour" comment - that referred to the quality and whiteness. They were able to get very close to modern standards of white flour, especially by late period.)
1/2 tsp salt
4 oz (one stick) unsalted butter, diced (I used 4 oz rendered lard from house-cured bacon, guanciale, and other salted piggy parts.)
6 egg yolks
2 oz rose-water
1 packet dry yeast (not the instant kind)
3/4 to 1 cup warm water
Pulse flour and salt in the food processor. Add butter (or lard) and egg yolks and pulse until mixed. Whisk yeast into warm water; let sit for five minutes to activate, then add rose-water and some of the yeast/water. Pulse and add more/rest of water as needed. Mix by hand for five minutes until quite smooth. Place in an oiled Ziploc bag and refrigerate. When making dough, remove from fridge an hour before using to warm up and remove from bag and knead on a floured surface. Roll out dough and cut into squares approximately 4x4". (I made mine into 3" circles that I folded in half and crimped. I like the smaller size to eat.)
Filling:
1 lb tuna, cubed
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ginger
1 small pinch saffron, ground; I forgot to add this.
1-2 tsp olive oil
Toss spices and oil with cubed tuna... cubed seemed easier for small turnovers than the "wheels" mentioned in the original. Mound 1/2 cup of fish on a square of dough. (I used about 1 Tbsp for my smaller empanadas.) Moisten edges of dough
What worked: Oddly enough, these were better cold for lunch today than they were warm from the oven. Good balance of spices while still keeping a tuna flavor, and the empanadas themselves were attractive and would be great to pull from a cooler at events.
What didn't: The crust was quite dry. I suspect that adding the oil as the original calls for might have helped a bit, but really it's just going to be the nature of the thing. This recipe makes a huge quantity of dough - I used somewhere between 1/4 and 1/3 of the dough. It was also difficult to roll out thinly. If I was a better pizzaolo I'd know how to work the dough better. Oh well, it should freeze.
Will I make it again? I might.
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