Empanadas de patata, a culinary favourite of Yecla

The potato pasties are especially popular in Yecla during Easter

This dish is particularly popular in Yecla during Semana Santa but is available locally all year round, and is essentially a kind of potato-filled pasty.

Ingredients for the filling

1.5 kg potatoes

250 g canned tuna

5 eggs

500 g tinned red pepper

Parsley

Pine kernels

Ingredients for the pastry

Flour (as much as needed)

2 glasses white wine

1 glass of olive oil

Salt

Saffron or food colouring

Instructions: Place the flour in a bowl, make a hole in the centre and pour in the oil and wine after heating them gently in a saucepan for a few minutes (without boiling). Then mix the flour with the salt and saffron until the dough no longer sticks to the hands.

Knead well and place thin individual portions the size of small pancakes. Now peel, wash and cut the potatoes into fine slices, and sauté them in oil together.

Next, place them in a bowl, draining off the oil when taking them out of the frying pan, cut the peppers into thin strips and crush the parsley. Hard-boil 4 eggs and cut these too into small pieces.

Now mix the potatoes with the peppers, parsley, eggs, tuna and pine kernels and puta round two soup spoonfuls of the mix onto each portion of pastry. Fold the pastry portions closed and seal the edges with the appropriate cooking implement (or fingernails!).

Finally, use the fifth egg to baste the empanadas with a brush before cooking in the oven.

Note: a popular variant on the dish uses fried tomato paste instead of potatoes.

If visiting Yecla don’t forget to make sure one of your first ports of call is the tourist office (Plaza Mayor, 1, telephone 968 754104, email turismo@yecla.es).

For more local events, news and visiting information go to the home page of Yecla Today.