These would make great empanadas. Or pot pies.

[madbaker]

This week's Resolution Recipe, which I made on Pi Day for dinner but am posting now: Galician Pork and Sausage Pie.

1 lb red and yellow bell peppers
3 fennel bulbs(Fennel. Licorice. Ouzo. Blech!)
1 large onion, chopped
2/3 cup good olive oil
4 cloves garlic, chopped (Ha! I used...more.)
2 1/4 lb boneless pork loin, cubed (I used about 1.75 lb)
6 oz smoked ham, diced (I used 4 oz smoked proscuitto)
3 chorizo sausages (house-made)
7 oz can whole tomatoes
3/4 cup dry white wine
pinch saffron
1 tsp paprika (I used 1 tsp paprika and 1 tsp smoked paprika)
handful of parsley, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggses, chopped

Dough:
3 1/2 cups flour
salt
6 Tbsp lard or butter(I used 4 Tbsp butter + 2 Tbsp lard)
6 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup dry white wine
2 eggses
1 egg for glaze

Seed and slice the peppers. Ruthlessly strip the outer leaves from the fennel bulbs and cut the bulbs vertically into six to eight pieces. Keep the frondy bits.Throw out the fennel bulbs and chop up two onions instead. Saute the onion and garlic in some of the oil over a gentle heat. Add the pork and ham, and fry until the meat begins to brown. Add a good glug more oil and throw in the chorizo and bell pepper and fennel. Continue to fry. Add the tomatoes in their juice, chopping them down into the pan as you go, then the wine, saffron, paprika, parsley, and salt and pepper to season. (I threw in a small amount of fennel seed, which I do not hate.) Cook on a gentle heat for 20 minutes until the pork is cooked through and the liquid has reduced and thickened, then let cool for as long as you want.

In a fud processor, sift the flour and salt with the lard or butter and then add the olive oil, wine, and the eggses to make it cohere and form a paste. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for 20 minutes.

Heat the oven to 375. Roll out two pieces of dough, one slightly larger than the other, and place the larger one in a pie pan, allowing overhang all the way round. Pile the filling into the crust, then trim the overhang so that you can still fill the edges of the dough onto the filling. Brush some beaten egg onto the pie crust rim, then place the other piece of rolled-out dough over the pie. Press the edges together with the tines of a fork and trim the dough as needed. Brush all over with beaten egg and prick the surface at intervals with a fork. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 50-60 minutes. Delicious.

What worked: This was very good. I had extra dough so I cut out some leaves for pretty. The crust was on the thicker side, but still a bit flaky (that'd be the lard) and it really fit with the feel of the dish. It was, in fact, delicious.

What didn't: I had to cook this considerably longer to get it to not be a stew twice the size of my largest pie plate (even with adding less wine). It did thicken down eventually but it was on the stove for another 30 minutes at least. There was still a bit more than would comfortably fit in. I'd probably add the parsley last-minute with the hard-boiled eggses to keep it sharper and fresher.

This did not de-plate very well. The crust didn't sog, which was nice, but the filling splooged out. Individual pot pies would be showier, but I don't have pot pie pans.

Will I make it again? Definitely. It is a decent amount of work, but worth it. I'd especially use this crust for other savory pies.

Comments

[desperance.livejournal.com]

Okay, now I'm confused. You said (Fennel. Licorice. Ouzo. Blech!) and I was all "Licorice, ouzo, blech! - but actually I've come to terms with fennel; thus far and no further I can go." And I read on, and I read on, and suddenly you said (I threw in a small amount of fennel seed, which I do not hate.) - and that's just weird to me, because fennel seed is much more licoricey than fennel bulb. Happily it was fennel seed that I came to terms with, so the bulb is a step back from that dangerous margin, but how you can not-hate the seed while rejecting the bulb I do not understand.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

My fennel seed tolerance has grown with making sausages. However, it is much easier to control the amount of fenneliness with seed than it is with bulb.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

It is also ambiguous sentence construction; I no longer hate a small amount of fennel seed in things.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Ooooh. We picked up a huge pork joint yesterday, I think we might need to try this next weekend.

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Giving this a go now. I've just come to the conclusion that you're frying pan must be a lot bigger than mine.

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

I have a full set of Lodge cast iron. I used the big skillet for this. (So, yes.) Other than that, how was it?

[aryanhwy.livejournal.com]

Just as drippy as you said (after we cut a wedge out, we ended up tilting the pan on end to drain excess liquid before putting it into the fridge), and absolutely delicious. We put in the fennel, which in the end I could only tell was in there because it made the chorizo taste like American pepperoni. It also turned out to be one of the most attractive pies we've ever made. Here, I think this should work (https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xat1/v/t1.0-9/10407942_10152951064552809_8649379250754313965_n.jpg?oh=1bdba04fab53d30eff4eea85806ae0ce&oe=55CF29F4).

[madbaker.livejournal.com]

Beautiful!