Pork Empanada Part II : Filling

I followed the recipe in my "Spanish" cookbook for the dough and the filling, although you could use either on their own. Again, my additions are in Italics. I deviated from this recipe also, so I am going to try to explain what I did and show pictures of each step. The official recipe is included at the bottom of this post. (I have all the pictures up now but I might still come back to this post to explain the process a bit better).

Mise en place (Filling):

Ingredients

5 tbsp olive oil (divided)

2 onions, chopped

4 garlic cloves, finely chopped (I used more because we like garlic)

2 1/4 lb boned pork loin, diced (I used 2 lbs of boneless pork chops)

6 oz smoked gammon (smoked or cured ham) or raw ham, diced (I had the deli man cut me a slice of smoked ham just under 1/2 thick- one piece was about six ounces, I diced it into 1/2 in cubes Note: Even the Sendik's deli man gets annoyed when you ask for that and then come back 5 minutes later asking for 4 oz of super thin proscuitto. Not my fault the meat counter was out the prepackaged variety. :P )

3 red chorizo or other spicy sausages (about 11 oz - I used 3 Johnsonville grilling chorizo sausages, closer to 12 oz)

3 (bell) peppers (mixed colours), seeded and chopped (I used 2 red and one green)

3/4 cup white wine (I used a dash of red)

7 oz can tomatoes

pinch of saffron threads (0.1 g)

1 tsp paprika (omitted)

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I used fresh cilantro and a dash of dried parsely flakes)

salt and ground black pepper

Mise en place post chop:


Tomatoes, cilantro, saffron, low heat

Browning onions with garlic (didn't really brown)


Browning pork (way too much to brown, had to split)


Mushrooms and half of pork to tomatoes


Chorizo with peppers:


Meanwhile, still on low heat, occasionally covered:


Deglazed the pan with a little red wine, reduced it au sec(almost dry, usually 3/4 reduction to remove the "winey" taste), stepped away even though I know better, burned it, heated a little more wine, and added it to the pot

The finished filling:

Out of the oven:

Directions

Make the filling. Heat 4 tbsp oil in a frying pan and fry the onions, adding the garlic when the onions begin to colour. Transfer to a flameproof casserole. Add the pork and ham to the pan, and fry until coloured, stirring. Transfer to the casserole.

Add 1 tbsp oil, the sausage and the peppers to the pan and fry. Transfer to the casserole. Deglaze the pan with the wine, allowing it to bubble and reduce. Pour into the casserole.

Add the the tomatoes, saffron, paprika and parsley and season. Cook gently for 20-30 minutes. Leave to cool.

Meanwhile, make the dough. Assemble the Empanada according to the dough directions. Bake the pie for 30-35 minutes (covering the ends if they brown too much.)