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Salmon Pie

making salmon empanadas

"You must take the salmon, well-cleaned and washed, and take your spices, which are long pepper, galingale, and ginger, and all this well-ground with salt, but in such a manner that there is not too much spice, but moderate; then make the empanadas, and put the salmon inside. And cast the spices on top and beneath, and all over. And then cover the empanada and let it go to the oven to cook; and when it is cooked, if you wish to eat the salmon cold, make a hole in the empanada under the bottom crust so that the broth comes out, because with it, it cannot be kept well."
libro de cozina, 1529, Ruperto de Nola

spacer notes

There is no real way to substitute the long pepper and galangal with other spices, this dish really needs the earthy and unique qualities these spices have to offer.
A simple short paste works very well for these though you may wish to try other pastries provided they are solid enough.
There did not seem to be any excess liquid produced from the salmon so a hole was not necessary but may be on making larger versions.

spacer Instruction

  • Crush two long peppers and add to this some galengal (just a little bit less than the amount of your pepper) and then add as much ginger (equal to amount of galangal) and then some salt to taste (I found a lesser amount worked well but tastes differ).
  • Slice the skin off of your peice of salmon (I used roughly a 1 1/2 pounds deboned) and then chop it up in med. chunks.
  • Take your pastry and roll it out into flat circles. If you would like smaller pastries, roll the paste out and cut it out with a round cutter. (a large apple juice can with the lid removed or a large cookie cutter would work).
  • making salmon empanadas
  • Sprinkle a bit of spice mixture on each pastry disc and then pile a lump of filling over one half of the disc.
  • sprinkle more spice mixture into the fish and then flip over the pastry and seal it up.
  • Bake these in a hot oven (375-400F depending on oven) until they are golden brown.
  • Eat and enjoy!


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