Welcome to Mum&sons

My two eldest boys challenged me to start a cooking blog with simple recipes that we can cook together - and my youngest one has now joined in. I am hoping they pick up some cooking and photograph skills... or that at least they learn to design and run a blog.


EMPANADILLAS

Empanadillas are little fried tuna pies. Perfect for children's suppers. If you happen to be in Spain you can buy empanadillas pastry rounds in any supermarket.  If you are not in Spain you can use wonton's pastry (though that makes a triangular empanadilla rather than a semi-circular one). Or you can also make the pastry yourself (a bit of a bother, really, but you can find the recipe below)

For the pastry
- 90 ml water
- 80 ml olive oil
- 330 g plain flour
- a generous pinch of salt

Mix the water and olive oil. Heat it gently for a couple of minutes. Add it to the flour and salt (in one go). Mix well and let it rest for 30 minutes. Knead it a little to get rid of the air. Then cut thin circles of the pastry and put them in between baking paper squares so that they do not stick to each other (this is how they sell them in Spain).

For the empanadillas you need:
- two boiled eggs (chopped very thinly)
-20 green olives ( chopped very thinly)
- 2 small tins of tuna
-a tablespoon of red vinegar (this is optional, but in Spain we often make this with tuna in 'escabeche', which is difficult to find here, so the vinegar helps to get that 'escabache' flavour)
-4 tablespoons of tomato sauce or good passata
- a pinch of salt
- lots of olive oil

Mix the chopped boiled eggs, chopped green olives, tuna, vinegar, tomato sauce and salt until you get a thick paste (do not over-mix it so that you can still see each ingredient). Put a teaspoon and a half of the mixture on each round of pastry. Fold the pastry over and press down the sides with the teeth of a fork so that the empanadillas do not open up. At this point you can freeze the empanadillas if you wish.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat. Once the oil is hot add the empanadillas. Fry for a couple of minutes on each side until they get golden. Be careful because they can burn in seconds. Once they are ready put them on kitchen paper to get rid of the excess oil.