Empanada Gallega de Atún

Ingredients

• 2 puff pastry sheet
• 240 g canned tuna, drained
• 3 onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, diced
• 2 garlic, finely chopped
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 tsp smoked paprika
• 60 g black olives, sliced
• 2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper

Method

1. 1.

   Slow-cook the sofrito — Warm the olive oil in a wide pan over low heat, add the onions and both peppers with a pinch of salt, and cook very gently for 25 minutes, stirring now and then. You are after a soft, sweet, jammy sofrito with almost no colour, not fried onion.

2. 2.

   Fold in the tuna and cool — Stir in the garlic and smoked paprika for a minute, then the tomato paste and cook it 2 minutes until it darkens. Off the heat, fold in the tuna, olives, parsley, salt and pepper. Spread the filling on a plate and cool it completely — warm filling melts the pastry from the inside.

3. 3.

   Spread the filling on pastry — Heat the oven to 200 °C. Lay one pastry sheet on a lined baking tray and spread the cold filling over it in an even layer, leaving a bare 2 cm border all the way round.

4. 4.

   Seal and crimp the edges — Lay the second sheet on top, press the two borders firmly together, then fold the edge over on itself and crimp it into a rope so nothing leaks. Cut a 1 cm hole in the centre as a chimney for the steam.

5. 5.

   Glaze and bake — Brush the whole surface with beaten egg and bake for 30-33 minutes, until deeply golden on top and dry and crisp underneath when you lift a corner with a palette knife.

6. 6.

   Cool before cutting — Slide the empanada onto a rack and let it settle for at least 20 minutes before cutting it into squares — hot from the oven the filling slumps. It is at its best warm or completely cold, packed flat in a box.