Delicious cooking: Sausage, pepper and onion emapanda pie

I did promise that I´d put up pictures of what I´ve been cooking.

This is my latest creation: a sausage, green pepper and onion pie. Well, it´s translated to english as "pie" or "pasty", but it´s called an "empanada" in Spanish.

Yes, it´s quite large. Those two other visible things are plain sausage pasties.

 
I decided to make this because I had a lot of dough sitting in my freezer waiting to be used--and we all know that as soon as dough dries, it just doesn´t taste (or rise) the same.

Empanadas are quite thick. Do you like the stripes?

It´s actually very very easy to make this pie. You just need:

-4 long chistorra sausages (red sausages, uncooked)
-3 medium-sized green frying peppers (they can be other kinds too; I just don´t like other colored peppers)
-2 medium onions
-A pinch of salt
-Half a glass of water
-Dough (easily bought at the supermarket)

You cut everything into small pieces, and sautée it together. Peppers first, then onions, and when the onions are tuning transparent--add the sausage. To make the empanada filling a bit "juicy" instead of dry, just add half a cup of water after everything has cooked, and let the whole mix cook a few minutes.

Meanwhile, you prep the dough--roll it out, prepare the oven (220ºC) and make sure that it doesn´t stick to the baking sheet (I use olive oil to coat the foil when I´m cooking savory food). The dough should be divided into two sheets--one for the top, one for the bottom; or more if you want to put some dough apart for "decorations" (like my stripes).

Spoon the mixture (it doesn´t have to have cooled; it can be hot or cold or lukewarm) into the center of the dough. Spread it out evenly, leaving approximately 2-3cm of space between the filling and the edge of the dough (so that you´ll be able to close the empanada). Once you´ve put all the mix on, close the empanada by putting the "top" sheet of dough that you reserved onto it. Seal the edges using a slightly wet finger and a fork.

For the last step before the oven, you can go two ways: you can use a beaten egg to coat the dough so that it´ll get a certain "shine" and look toasty in the oven. Or, you can do like I did (absolutely improvising) and use some of the "sauce" that had been left over from the filling (because I made it a bit too liquid) to coat it and the decorations. That way, it takes a bit of a reddish tinge from the red sausage, but doesn´t become "shiny", just toasted.

Pop it in the oven and wait for however long it takes to cook--it really varies depending on the dough´s thickness and how long it´s been in the freezer. This time, it took approximately 15-20 minutes.

Let it cool a bit or completely, depending on whether you like your pies hot or cold (I prefer mine hot).

Ta-da!! Lunch!!

As you can see, I baked two things; the empanada and an experiment: I wanted to see if I could replicate the puff pastry I ate a week or so ago at a bakery. It was stuffed with a whole chistorra sausage.  As you can see, the dough is a different, flakier kind than the one used for my pie (which doesn´t rise). It was a delicious success as well.

The filling.

I was afraid that the pie might turn out a bit dry since I didn´t include any type of sauce/the traditional tomato sauce in it....but the onion and the extra "sauce" made from the water and sausage drippings did a great job keeping it just right.

My family loved it, I´m happy to say, because it was the first time I made this kind of pie. I totally winged it, hahaha.