Pastillo de Alto Aragón

Posted by whilehewasout on October 15, 2013 · 11 Comments 

This time I bring You a traditional Northern Spanish recipe directly from Alto Aragón, perfect for the month of the pumpkin :), without eggs, butter or yeast. If you go to an Aragonian town in Spain and the air smells of anise, you can be sure you will eventually find some Pastillo – a thin, sweet pumpkin filled delicacy abundantly decorated with sugar and cinnamon, with a decadent anise flavor. Now even this alone is worth visiting Aragón for!

The original!

It might sound complicated but trust me, it is not. Grab your friend or husband, wife and make them slice the pumpkin – that is the most difficult part of the recipe 😉

My version below 🙂 The crust and the filling are a bit thicker – roll out your dough to a bigger oval and spread out the filling to get closer to the original version.

Ingredients for 1 big Pastillo

For the dough:
380g white flour
230g water
115g sugar
100g olive oil
1 tsp anise powder
rind of 1 orange

For the filling:
400g raw pumpkin, in thin slices
2 tbs sugar
1 tsp cinnamon powder

olive oil and sugar to sprinkle the pumpkin filling

Preparation:

1. Pour the flour into a bowl and set apart. Boil the water, sugar, anise powder and orange rind for about 10 minutes. While it is boiling, with the help of a mandolin slicer or a sharp knife, peel and slice the pumpkin. Strain the boiling liquid directly onto your flour (careful, hot!) and mix it well. Once it has cooled a bit, knead until a smooth ball can be shaped. Cover and let rest for a couple of minutes.

My boyfriend did a good job slicing the pumpkin, don’t you think? 😉

2.  Roll out the dough into a very thin oval shape (thinner than mine :)), sprinkle with some sugar and cinnamon, and collocate the pumpkin slices to cover half of your dough (leave about 1-2cm on the sides free to be able to close the dough well) Sprinkle with olive oil, sugar and cinnamon on top.
3. Close your dough as a pocket and seal it well with your fingers. Brush the top of the pocket with olive oil and sprinkle a bit of sugar and cinnamon on top if you like. With the help of a fork punch a few holes in your dough.

4. Bake for about 25 minutes at 180°C/360°F, then turn up the heat to 220°C and bake for a few more minutes until your pastillo is of a nice golden brown color.
5. Once out of the oven, sprinkle with lots of sugar for the authentic Aragonian experience 🙂 (I skipped this part)

Filed under Food, Recipes, Travels · Tagged with Alto Aragón, anise, Aragon, Empanadico, Northern Spain, pastillo, pumpkin, pumpkin pie, Spanish pumpkin pie