Delfi at home: Tarta de Espinaca y choclo and Pesto Salmon: (spinach and corn pie with pesto salmon)

Today I went over to my mom's house for some tea, and to my luck I found my dad in the kitchen preparing some food, he is a wonderful cook and he just seems to get better at it year after year, he is very creative and as far as I am concerned his dishes are 5 stars! Luckily I had my camera with me and I was able to get a few snapshots, here you go, enjoy! Thank you Dad George for contributing with your wonderful recipes!

Tarta de Choclo y Espinaca Ingredients:

Fresh bunch of spinach, big leaves
1/2 poblano pepper
1 medium spanish onion
1 1/4 cup of whole kernel organic corn
2 hard boiled eggs
1 cup of whole milk ricotta cheese
1 recipe of the empanada dough, or store bought dough found at your spanish food store (its hard to find)
Salt
pepper
spanish paprika (this one is not spicy) found at your local spanish food store

Pesto Salmon Ingredients:

4 medium salmon fillets
Homemade or store bought pesto sauce
Fresh bunch of parsley
1 1/2 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons of unsalted butter
Salt
pepper

Tarta de Espinaca y Choclo

In a pot pre heat some olive oil, add the chopped poblano pepper with the onion. Cook until the onions are translucent. Add your spices, 1 teaspoon of salt, 1 teaspoon of pepper and 1 teaspoon of spanish paprika.

Now remove big stems from your spinach.

Add spinach to the pot.

Cook for about a minute, then mix.

Finish cooking spinach until it has reduce in size like this. Steamy!

Now drain. And let the spinach drain in the colander for a few minutes. Then press the spinach with a spoon against the colander to eliminate excess water, you don't want any water.

Now transfer the spinach to a bowl once it's cooled down, add your corn.

Mix.

Add the ricotta cheese and mix.

Add about 1/2 teaspoon of salt or less this is according to your taste.

Mix and add pepper to taste.

Ok. Here is the dough my dad bought at the local spanish food store, not every store will carry this, so you can replace it by using the empanada dough recipe posted earlier, just roll the dough out into a circle or a rectangle, you will need to circles/rectangles one for the bottom one for the top.

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. In an oven safe dish place one of your circles at the bottom and add the filling.

Now cut your hard boiled eggs length wise in quarters, place them on top of your filling, don't mix.

Now add the top circle.

Press the edges to seal tight, you may seal it like my dad did on the photo or you may use a fork to seal the edges.

With your fingertips brush some water on top. Not too much!

Now with a fork make some holes around the top.

Now place it in the oven for about 30-45 minutes or until golden brown, I would suggest to place it in the lower rack for about 20-30 minutes, then move it to the top for another 10-15 minutes until it looks like this, let it cool and enjoy!

Pesto Salmon:

My dad is using an all natural frozen salmon fillet you may use fresh or frozen. Place your fillets in a safe oven dish.

Sprinkle a little salt on top of the fillets, turn them over and sprinkle some more salt so both sides are seasoned.

How about some pepper?

Now add a thin slice of butter on top of each fillet

Now add some pesto, you may use store bought or, in a blender add a bunch of fresh basil, a couple of garlic cloves, some olive oil (not much, just enough to make it runny, unless you like it otherwise), add salt, pepper and spanish pepper flakes (this are not spicy!) Blend.