A snack of scallop empanada with a glass of Pazo Cilleiro Albariño is a match made in heaven. The salty notes, the perfectly baked dough, its succulent filling and the liquid and vibrant flavour of our Albariño wine. It is the essence of Galicia's estuaries as well as a simple yet universal moment. An easily accessible gourmet pleasure. That's all there is to it.
Empanada is the pinnacle of everyday food. It is cooked in the kitchens of virtually every Galician home. In its finest gourmet versions, empanada is a delicacy.
Featuring a diverse range of fillings, they reveal imagination, diversity and local flavours. Empanadas are generally divided into two specialties: land and sea-based. Among the former, we find fillings made with roast chicken, turnip greens, peppers or zorza, a popular preparation of seasoned pork loin.
Among the sea-based recipes, there is as much variety as there are turns and landscapes in the estuaries: empanada pastry filled with anchovies, skate, lamprey, mussels, cockles; even spider crab or goose barnacles; or with stewed cuttlefish, an speciality in the Vigo estuary (see picture below).
Like all popular cuisines "as we discovered in the case of the Mediterranean cocas", the origin of this simple but elaborate empanada is obscure. Comfort food for fishermen and peasants, but also for the powerful elites. Pilgrims' food. In short, food of peoples who for centuries have emigrated and travelled the world, on foot or by boat, thus exporting their cuisine, including empanada, from Madrid to Buenos Aires and from Zurich to Havana.
The fact is that empanada has always attracted social favour and cultural attention. It is depicted in two important sculptures in Santiago de Compostela, both dating from the early 13th century: the Pórtico de la Gloria in the Cathedral and one of the ornamental capitals in the ceremonial hall of Pazo de Xelmírez (see picture below).
And so, while learning and enjoying ourselves, we continue with our snack of Pazo Cilleiro and Galician empanada. For this second glass, we choose an octopus-filled empanada.
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