jueves, 27 de septiembre de 2012

September Daring Bakers Challenge - Empanada Gallega

Blog checking lines: Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

This time, the first part of the post will be in English, and then I'll change into Spanish... just fair for you DB guys!

I am deeply honored to have been asked to be your hostess for this month's challenge. I have been a member of the DK since October 2009, so that's almost three years now!

Thanks to that (well, to you guys!) I have cooked a lot, learned a lot, and pulled my hair quite a few times because whatever I was concocting wasn't the way it ought to be. The challenges I have liked best are the ones that let your imagination fly and give you the basis to build something of your own. That's why I picked empanada. And because of this little story.

My grandparents lived in a country house that my great-grandfather built a hundred years ago. It is in the northwest of Spain, right on top of Portugal, in the region called Galicia. Back in the 70s, the kitchen was the place of gathering, talking, reading… and there was always something cooking on the iron stove, be it a pot of caldo (a hearty soup), or a stew or a cake in the oven. When I think back to those days, I can smell the sweetness of burnt wood or coal, the almost “chocolate” scent that rose up to your nostrils when you opened the door, the warmth of the air when coming in from a cool, windy and wet August morning…

In that kitchen I used to step on my great-grandmother’s toes when I wanted to give her a kiss. There, my uncle Pepe taught me to fry eggs and potatoes. And that’s where I learned to make empanada from my grandma Carmen. She left us almost four years ago, but she stays with me in my heart... and in my kitchen :)

Empanada is the kind of food that makes one go back to childhood. A bread-like dough that surrounds a vegetable frittata with anything you can imagine, from sardines to beef. Or filled with sugar, butter and fruit. Warm or cold, it was simple, pretty, and delicious.

And what I've seen in the forums for the challenge is exactly that: delicious. The fillings you've come up with are so varied (from vegan to meaty, from light to hearty, fresh fruits or jams). And more: some of you guys are artists! The decorations are so pretty it is a pitty to cut into them! Here is a link to ALL your creations!

Not only have I had fun preparing the challenge, hosting it has also been a moment of fun learning. I never cease to be amazed with you. THANKS DBers!

Here is the link to the recipes, both for doughs and for fillings, and here are some pictures of the empanadas I made while preparing the challenge:


Ground meat empanada I made for my birthday picnic

Marinated pork loin and red bell-pepper empanada, also for the picnic
 
Bacalao con pasas empanada, good picnic stuff!


What the pork loin and pepper empanada looks like inside

Ham and cheese empanada, plain, simple, and yummy!

Caballa corn flour empanada (not very pretty, but SOOOOOO good!)

The empanada I made for my brother in law's birthday, in my grandma's oven.

I'll be visiting your blogs during the next few days, because there are a LOT of them :-)




25 comentarios:

  1. Muitos parabéns! Obrigada Patri.

    Thanks and congratulations on the challenge. I loved the opportunity to use salted cod and present it to our fellow Daring Bakers. The dough is wonderful and I'll do it a lot in the future with all sorts of fillings.

    ResponderEliminar
  2. Thank you, thank you, thank you so much for this wonderful challenge. I can't wait to make lots and lots more empanadas now that I know how amazingly simple and easy and adaptable they are! And I am honored that you liked my apple filling and the fairy design - I am thrilled that you'd like to use either one as inspiration!! Thank you again!!

    ResponderEliminar
  3. Patri, Thank you so much for hosting this amazing challenge! Empanadas will forever be in my repertoire of daily recipes. You know, I reheated the lefovers the next day in the oven and they became crunchy and so delicious as well!

    ResponderEliminar
  4. My maternal grandparents were also from Galicia and my grandmother always made empanada with desalted bacalao, peppers + onions. Only spices were azafran and oregano.

    ResponderEliminar
  5. Hi Patri, greetings from Malaysia! I loved your story and the information you gave was so informative and helpful. Thank you so much for the recipes. It was a wonderful challenge.

    ResponderEliminar
  6. You did a wonderful job putting this challenge together - I really enjoyed it.
    Thank you for all of your work!

    ResponderEliminar
  7. Patri, thanks for sharing these recipes with us! My empanada turned out so much tastier than anything I was expecting, and I loved working with the dough. Definitely a keeper recipe! You were such a gracious host too - such dedication to posting replies on the forums :) Cheers to you!

    ResponderEliminar
  8. I really liked this Challenge! Thanks!

    ResponderEliminar
  9. Hi Patri, I'm glad I discovered empanada, we liked it very much and I will make it again soon, trying some new fillings. Thank you for the challenge!

    ResponderEliminar
  10. Thank you !! What a lovely challenge this was....cannot wait to try more variants. My next will be Ham& Cheese filling !!!
    Cheers !!!

    ResponderEliminar
  11. Such a fun challenge! Thanks for sharing with us.

    ResponderEliminar
  12. Thank you for your great challenge, it's was a lot of fun. All your empanadas look great and I'll definetly do some more in the furute!

    ResponderEliminar
  13. Thanks for hosting this challenge! I am looking forward to baking many more empanadas! :)

    ResponderEliminar
  14. Thank you for sharing your childhood memories and food so beautifully Patri. Loved the challenge and sorry I got delayed posting it. Have a great weekend!

    ResponderEliminar
  15. Thanks and congratulations on the challenge. Recipe for the dough is perfect!

    ResponderEliminar
  16. Thanks everyone for your kind words! I still hav quite a lot of blogs to go through, so if I haven't been to yours yet I'll do it today or tomorrow :-)

    Looking forward to seeing what we all get to do in October!

    ResponderEliminar
  17. Thanks for such a wonderful challenge, Patri! The Empanada recipe went down VERY well at my house. We really loved the dough. :)

    ResponderEliminar
  18. Thank YOU Patri for an amazing challenge. I really enjoyed it.
    You were a wonderful hostess and I really appreciate you encouragement and support at the forum

    ResponderEliminar
  19. Te dejo mis felicitaciones, primero por hostear un gran desafío con excelentes resultados, y luego por tus riquísimas empanadas! La de jamón y queso es mi preferida :)

    ResponderEliminar
  20. Thank you thank you, Patri, for the great challenge! I loved it from the first sight. I'm sorry for posting it a bit late. Viva empanadas!
    http://dolce-casa.blogspot.cz/2012/09/zarijova-vyzva-daring-bakers-empanada.html

    ResponderEliminar
  21. This was a great challenge and you were a wonderful hostess1 Thanks so much for the great recipes and instruction. Your beautiful empanada is the perfection I will strive for.

    ResponderEliminar
  22. Fantastic recipes and directions. Had a great time making and eating. Definitely something to do agan. Thanks so much!

    ResponderEliminar
  23. Thank you for hosting such a delicious challenge - it was so much fun to make! Not to mention tasty to eat :o)

    ResponderEliminar
  24. Thanks for the lovely challenge. I am so glad to read about the history of the pie.
    COngratulations

    ResponderEliminar
  25. thanks for the challenge Patri! was lots of fun :)

    ResponderEliminar

Siempre me interesa saber qué piensas, déjame un comentario.
I'm always interested on knowing what you think, leave a comment.