Back from our surprise mini break, the fridge was pretty bare and we needed a quiet night in to recover from living life in the fast lane with the oldies! It was a tough job to keep up with them…we needed a night on the sofa to recharge the batteries.
If you´ve ever spent time in Spain, you´ll probably realise that tv here is generally not all that much to be reckoned with. There is one programme called Cuéntame Cómo Pasó which I love. It´s a well observed period drama which has won loads of awards and has been going on for years. It documents the social changes in Spain particularly during the Franco regime and the collapse of it.
There are also some good UK and US series which are shown, although often quite badly dubbed. They tend to use females with silly voices to play the parts of children, which is most bizarre. And of course we have plenty of football, tennis and sports coverage as well as pretty good news coverage.
That said, summer tv scheduling is, as in most countries, pretty dire. Well, who wants to be stuck inside watching tv when they could be out dancing at a fiesta? Sometimes though you just want to slump in from of the “tele” and disengage the brain for a couple of hours. Time for a DVD.
Inspired by some of the delicious Empanadas we ate on our recent trip, I decided I´d make a large one to see us through the DVD. Kitchen skills for this dish were fairly minimal relying on two sheets of defrosted puff pastry and a quarter of a kilo of minced pork. A traditional Empanada from Galicia is more typically made though with a light bread dough, so apologies for the shortcut.
I sautéed the pork with a chopped onion and two cloves of crushed garlic. Then I added half a cup of tomato sauce and one chopped grilled red pepper, some sliced mushrooms and a few chopped capers (which I´m having a bit of a love affair with at the moment). You can use whatever you have to hand and you fancy. Don´t let it dry out, you want it a little “saucy”.
To assemble the dish lay one sheet of puff pastry on a baking tray and turn the edges up slightly all the way round to form a lip. Fill with the cooked meat mixture and spread it around evenly. Put the other sheet of pastry on top and pinch the edges together. Prick it all over with a fork and brush with beaten egg. Bake in a medium oven for about 25 minutes until the pastry is golden.
We ate it with a tomato, onion and basil salad and long cold glasses of tinto de verano. That´s red wine mixed with casera which is a sort of not very sweet lemonade. I know, it sounds odd but believe me when it´s a warm evening and you need to drink lots it´s a great refresher with not too much alcohol and lots of ice cubes.
And what did we watch? Well, a very foody film which I thought was going to be in Spanish but we only realised about 20 minutes into the film that we were actually watching (and both fully understanding!) in Italian. It´s one of my favourites, Big Night, with Stanley Tucci. Watch this short clip if you have time. I bet we´ll all be making Timpano soon – I know I´ve already spoken to my mum to find out our family recipe. We call it Timballo though, but it´s the same thing.
For a fantastic version of this amazing dish, hop over to Ambrosiana´s recipe here.
Chica Andaluza 
That looks great – the film and empanada. I’m going to have to watch the Big Night when I go home.
My favourite foodie film is a Japanese and called Tampopo (Dandelion):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tampopo
It´s a great film – and now I´m going to see if I can track down your recommendation!
The empanada looks good and it’s a lovely clip. I’m looking forward to your timabollo recipe now! I want to put capers in everything at the moment too. Maybe after the fresh flavours of summer we need it’s sharpness to flavour autumn dishes.
I´ll be pressing my mum for a detailed recipe when I see her next week…maybe she´ll even make it for us! Capers are wonderful and here we get really big juicy ones….gorgeous 🙂 Glad you enjoyed the clip, I love that film!
We watch so much TV here I wonder how I would cope with only sport to watch! Hope you have a happy Sunday 🙂
It´s tough – Big Man watches the dreadful tv and I have plenty of DVDs to entertain me!
I’m feeling hungry already – I think I need to make some lunch!!!
That´s the trouble with food blogs isn´t it?!
Love that empanada! The ones I’m used to have a Mexican influence – which is , of course, a mix of Old Spain and the Native food traditions. Everyone in the world seems to have a ‘meat pie’ of some sort…
Ooh – sounds so good! An yes, in the UK it would be a mince meat pie…we all have lots of variations on a theme 🙂
Yum, in puff pastry! Great combo wth the pork and capers. I have a thing about capers too! I’m very curious about the tinto de verano. I bet it is very refreshing and you know if Florida we always have the heat!
I love puff pastry – a naughty treat every so often! The tinto de verano is a bit unusual. When I was first here I thought it was “sinful” to mix red wine with what is almost lemonade 😉 But it´s just very basic table wine and now I am more relaxed about it – in fact I love it!
I love that you made your empanada using puff pastry. It’s the flakey crunch that gets me every time. And I can’t wait to see your Mum’s Timballo recipe. With some pretty cold days ahead, I’m always on the lookout for tasty baked pasta dishes. Thanks to you and Ambrosiana, I’ll soon have 2 more to try.
It was a little shortcut – but a tasty one! I´m so hoping my mum will make the Timballo as I am now craving it 🙂
Oh totally yum! I think you could wrap almost *anything* in puff pastry and I’d be happy… mmm!!
It´s true – sweet or savoury..it just works!
One of the best food films ever. Chicago John is probably just like Tucci, he’d kick someone out of a restaurant for ordering spaghetti with risotto. I’m pretty sure he makes the tricolored risotto platter like they do too. Anyway, I want to make a timpano for Thanksgiving. I think your meal looks fantastic.
Am chuckling away at this! If Chicago John did indeed kick someone out of a restaurant for ordering spaghetti (and don´t forget the meatballs!) with risotto I think I´d be right behind him waving a frying pan!!
Mmmmmmmmm, I love love love empanadas! The meat with veggie ones are delicious, and as a dessert I LOVE the ones filled with marmalade and cheese. YUMMY!
Ooh marmalade and cheese sounds good! Have never tried that 🙂
Hi Chica. This looks rather Yummy. I could just eat this now! Thank you for sharing the blog information. It was incredibly kind of you.
Hugs Florence x
It was good – and so easy! And “you´re welcome” 🙂
Those look great. 🙂
Thanks!
I’d much rather the food taste delicious than look pretty, but I still think yours looks great! Love the golden, flaky crust.
Aah – thanks Caroline. I do worry sometimes when I take photos that come out looking less “camera ready”!
Seriously brilliant! I have been trying to think of the name of that movie for I think the last 12 months and yes that one dish was very memorable! Thank you.
…empanadas look lovely too 🙂
It´s such a wonderful movie! Tanks for your kind words too 🙂
Great post! Looks delicious. Thank you for sharing and I will follow your blog for sure!
Thank you – glad you enjoyed it! Your blog made me chuckle…just popped over for a look.
You don’t think that looks pretty? I certainly do! Mouth-Watering, in fact. Yet another recipe I’ll have to try! 🙂
Aaah thanks – thought it just looked a little well…flaky!
Looks yummy! I am a huge fan of spanish food! I’ve been to Spain twice and the food was fabulous. I especially enjoy tapas.
Tapas are sooo good – no wonder so many people like them! Thanks for popping over and your very kind comment.
hmmm yummy, thats a look great and delicious.