Spanish Tuna Empanadillas Recipe – learn like a pro: Empanadas are big, tasty pastries from Spain that are filled with seafood or vegetables. These smaller tuna empanadillas, on the other hand, still have a lot of Mediterranean flavour and are easy to make ahead of time. Usually, tuna empanadillas are fried, but this recipe bakes them instead to make them lighter and easier to make.
Spanish Tuna Empanadillas Recipe – learn like a pro
Ingredients
For The Dough:
- ½ cup extra virgin olive oil
- ½ cup water
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 cups (360g) all-purpose flour
For The Filling:
- 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 small red bell pepper, diced
- 1 small green bell pepper, diced
- 1 dried bay leaf
- 2 (12 ounce) cans tuna in olive oil, drained and flaked
- 2 medium tomatoes, coarsely grated or finely chopped
- 1 tablespoon capers, drained and coarsely chopped
- 1 teaspoon pimentón dulce or paprika
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley leaves
- Zest of 1 lemon
- 1 egg, (optional), hardboiled and diced
- ¼ cup pitted black olives, chopped
Also See:
Lemon Blackberry Cake Recipe- Learn Like a Pro
Instructions
- To make the dough, mix the olive oil, water, and salt together in a large bowl with a whisk. With a wooden spoon, slowly add the flour until the dough comes together and there are no more dry bits of flour.
- Put the dough on a clean surface and knead it by hand until it is smooth, easy to shape, and doesn’t stick to your hands or the counter anymore.
- Put the dough back in the bowl, cover it, and set it aside while you make the filling.
- Cook the vegetables: Put the olive oil in a large frying pan and heat it over medium-low heat until it shimmers but doesn’t smoke. Put in the bay leaf, onion, and peppers.
- For about 6-7 minutes, stir the food with a wooden spoon every now and then until it softens and starts to caramelise.
- Put the tuna, tomatoes, capers, paprika, salt, and a pinch of black pepper in a bowl. Clean off the tasty browned bits from the pan’s bottom with the wooden spoon.
- Turn down the heat and cook for 8 to 10 minutes, until almost all the liquid has evaporated.
Add the aromatics. Put in the garlic, parsley, and lemon zest. - Cook for about one minute, or until the food smells good. Remove the pan from the heat. Take out the bay leaf and add the hard-boiled egg and olives.
- Leave alone until it’s safe to touch. Warm up your oven. Put racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and heat it up to 400°F. Put parchment paper on two baking sheets.
- Prepare the dough: Make 16 equal pieces of dough and roll them into balls. To keep the dough from drying out, put a clean, damp kitchen towel over it.
- For each piece, use your palms to press it into a circle that is about 5 inches across.
Place the empanadas with: Put about two tablespoons of the filling in the middle of the dough. - Cover the filling with the dough and fold the edges together. Press the edges together gently with your fingers. To seal the edges and add some style, use the tines of a fork.
- Put the empanadas on the baking sheets that have been lined with parchment paper.
- Put 8 on each sheet so that they don’t touch. Mix the egg and one tablespoon of water together in a small bowl.
- Apply the egg wash to the top of each empanada with a pastry brush. For 10 minutes, bake on the bottom rack. After about 10 minutes, move the pan to the higher rack and bake it until it is golden brown.
Nutrition
- Calories: 534.4 kcal
- Carbohydrates: 54 g
- Protein: 20.2 g
- Fat: 26.3 g
- Saturated Fat: 4 g
- Polyunsaturated Fat: 3.3 g
- Monounsaturated Fat: 17.9 g
- Trans Fat: 0.01 g
- Cholesterol: 75 mg
- Sodium: 762.1 mg
- Potassium: 407.6 mg
- Fiber: 3.6 g
- Sugar: 3.5 g
- Vitamin A: 1450.5 IU
- Vitamin C: 50.3 mg
- Calcium: 47.8 mg
- Iron: 4.8 mg
