Galician Zamburiñas empanada

Good cooks, after a well-deserved vacation we are back at home and this weekend following a little with Galician recipes I present you another empanada. In Galicia we have a great variety of empanadas, this week I have filled it with scallops.

For those who do not know what they are, the zamburiña is a bivalve mollusk similar to the scallop and identical flavor but smaller. The scallops are also delicious au gratin or grilled, where we manage to capture all their exquisite flavor.

The dough as I have always done following the empanada dough recipe prepared by my mother.

Remember that the empanada is an open recipe, admitting endless variations, as many as kinds of ingredients involved in the filling: cod with raisins, scallops, raxo, sardines, conger eel, clams, eels, squid, mussels, vegetables, zorza, xoubas … as far as the imagination takes you and of course, all very good.

Preparation of the scallops

1. We put the clean scallops to soak for 2-3 hours to remove the sand that they usually bring, best of all night, so we make sure that they will not spoil the recipe. We reserve.
2. We open the scallops by cooking them in a casserole with a finger of water, a bay leaf and a pinch of salt, with 2-3 minutes on high heat it comes to spare. Strain the broth and remove the shells. We reserve the scallops without shell. We can freeze the broth for a rice or a fish stew.
3. If you can’t get scallops with their shells, nothing happens, they already sell clean scallops in the frozen section (not the same, but for an emergency they are good). Of course, it is also convenient to put them to soak because of the sand.
4. Put 4 tablespoons of oil in a saucepan and when it is hot add 3 very chopped onions. We spend about 8 minutes over medium heat until they are transparent and poached. Meanwhile, we chop the pepper and the minced garlic cloves. Peel the tomato and cut it into small cubes. When the sofrito is very soft, add the pepper, garlic and tomato to the casserole for another 8 minutes over low heat.
5. Add the scallops, saffron, paprika and season everything to taste. We pass the filling about 5 minutes until it changes color, it will be done in the oven. Let cool so that the dough does not soften us later.
6. We rectify with salt and pepper, although it is most likely not necessary. We stir a few minutes and set aside.

Preparation of the pie

1. We divide the empanada dough into two similar parts. We knead them again in two balls of dough to be able to work well with them.
2. We flour the kitchen counter and roll out the dough with the rolling pin. We make the base that will be the size of the baking tray which in my case is rectangular. We will stretch it as thin as possible with the help of the roller. We put on the tray a piece of baking paper and on top the base cutting the excess if needed.
3. Add the filling with the scallops well drained of oil (drained but somewhat oily and juicy so that it comes out very rich) and stretch it all over the base. It is very important that the filling is cold so that the dough holds up well.
4. We cover with the other half well stretched and seal it by the edges, braiding the bottom over the top with the help of a fork.
5. We make a small hole in the center for the empanada to breathe and with a fork we puncture through different areas, so it will not swell. We decorate with strips or cords of the excess pasta.
6. We paint the empanada with the help of a kitchen brush and a mixture of beaten egg with a little milk (it is a small trick so that it is golden but does not burn).
7. We preheat the oven for 180 minutes at 180ºC and then put the empanada at the same temperature, first in the bottom of the oven (about 20 minutes) and then another 25 minutes in the center. When it is golden brown, we remove it.

And finally the empanada! Be careful when removing it from the tray because it will still be hot and it is easy to break. Cut it when it is warm and bon appetit. To cut it, it is best to use a good pair of scissors.

Tips: You can also add very chopped ham, it gives it a very tasty touch. And another option is to add a tablespoon of chopped parsley when we add the garlic, it gives it another flavor.

Be sure to enjoy all the recipes for fish and seafood that we have on the blog, I assure you that you will find a lot of ideas to make yours much happier.