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At Easter it is rare that you don't see them in the shop windows of bakeries, as a dessert on the menu of any restaurant, or homemade. Torrijas, also called torejas or tostadas depending on the area, were already being talked about in Roman times. Recipes from the 1st century AD written by the Roman gourmet Marcus Gavius Apicius already mentioned a sweet very similar to torrijas. Although torrijas, more similar to the way we know them today, originated in the 15th century and were born as a custom far removed from the celebration of Easter. These sweets made with stale bread, eggs, sugar, milk and wine began to be prepared to soothe women in labour after giving birth and to aid their postpartum recovery in the 1600s. Originally, torrijas were made with small slices of bread and served with a glass of wine.

But how did they become a Lenten and Easter sweet? It is not known for sure how torrijas became established as a typical dessert at this time of year, but what is certain is that as they were a satiating and calorific food that provided energy, they began to be included during Lent to compensate for periods of abstinence from certain foods.

Torrijas are associated with difficult times and economic hardship, when having a cheap and affordable element such as leftover bread made it possible to eat a sweet from time to time without spending too much. In fact, to prepare torrijas, the ideal is for the bread to be somewhat stale, two or three days old.

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Ingredients for 20 units

Bread for sliced torrijas: 20

Milk: 1 l

Sugar: 100 g

Cinnamon stick: 1

Olive oil: 1 l

Eggs: 2

Sugar for coating

Preparation

Ground cinnamon for the batter

The important thing is that the bread is from the day before (it absorbs the milk better and this results in juicier and creamier torrijas inside) and that we cut it into slices of approximately one and a half or two centimetres.

Put the litre of milk, the sugar, the cinnamon stick and the lemon peel (without any of the white part) in a saucepan.

Heat and when it starts to boil, remove from the heat, cover and wait for it to cool down before soaking the slices of bread, otherwise they will become too soft.

Leave the bread to soak for an hour or until it has absorbed all the milk and no more remains are visible.

Beat the eggs in a deep bowl, coat the slices of bread on both sides and fry them in plenty of very hot olive oil, turning them over so that they brown on both sides.

Drain well and place them on paper towels to remove excess oil.

Mix 100 g of sugar with two teaspoons of ground cinnamon (optional) and coat the torrijas in the mixture. Serve with fresh fruit, sprinkle with chopped walnuts or just as they are and no frills. As you like it. Of course, it is best when they are hot and freshly made, which is their best moment.

In other parts of Spain, the most traditional are torrijas with honey syrup.

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Ingredients

600 g pumpkin

1 large leek or two small leeks

1 large onion

2 potatoes

5 medium carrots

50 ml extra virgin olive oil

Fine salt (to taste), Maldon salt (for garnish)

1 litre of water or vegetable or poultry stock

Optional: 4 g curry powder

2 g nutmeg powder

Preparation

Prepare the vegetables and the sautéed vegetables

Peel the leek and cut it in two because we are only going to use the white part, if it is too small or too thin, we will use two. Put it in a large pan with two tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, you will see that you don't need much oil to poach it.

In the same way, peel the onion and cut it into large cubes. Add it directly to the pan with the leek. Stir and fry over a low heat for 5 minutes, until it is more or less translucent or transparent.

Meanwhile, wash and peel the pumpkin, carrots and potatoes. Cut the potatoes into small pieces and add them to the same pan with the leek and onion, sprinkle with fine salt.

Cooking the cream

The carrots can be cut into very small pieces or chopped directly in the blender's mincer. The smaller the pieces, the faster it will be done.

Cut the pumpkin into slices and keep two of them in reserve to prepare a small garnish to accompany the cream. Chop the rest of the slices very finely or put them through the blender in the same way as the carrots.

Add everything to the casserole and stir well, frying for 15 minutes over a medium heat. Add a litre of water (if you want to give it more flavour, you can use a vegetable or poultry stock) and leave to cook until everything is soft, about twenty minutes over medium-high heat is enough.

Check the salt and add if necessary. Blend with a blender until you get a creamy texture. It should be a slightly thick cream. The cream is now ready to serve piping hot.

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Ingredients for the empanada dough.

FOR A ROUND MOULD 32 cm. in diameter

500 gr. of plain wheat flour and a little more for kneading.

150 gr. of sunflower or mild olive oil

150 gr. milk at room temperature cow's milk or soya/oats/almond drink

1 egg, lightly beaten

8 g salt.

NO yeast of any kind.

Ingredients for the filling.

500 g. of Galician veal (needle if possible)

1 large onion

3 cloves of garlic

1 red pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Salt (to taste)

1 egg (to paint the empanada)

Preparation of the dough:

Pour the flour into the bowl, mix the salt with the milk and add the rest of the ingredients (oil, lightly beaten egg), hold the bowl with one hand and mix with the other until it forms a ball (this is done quickly), now you have a ball of dough, leave it in the bowl covered with a cloth for 15 minutes. While you prepare the filling, it will be ready to use.

Preparation of the filling.

Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. When the oil is hot, add the onion cut into julienne strips, the chopped garlic cloves and the red pepper cut into small cubes. Fry the vegetables until soft.

Clean the veal by removing the fat and the fatty residues and the webs that are typical of this part of the veal. The veal shank is a very juicy meat, perfect for this type of preparation. Cut the meat into small cubes.

Add the veal to the pan, salt and brown for 5 or 6 minutes. It is important not to overcook the meat at this point. Bear in mind that the meat will continue to cook in the oven. If we fry the meat too much at this stage, it could become too tough in the final result.

Remove the frying pan from the heat and drain the stuffing to remove the juices and oil. Set the filling aside until ready to use.

How to make the empanada.

Divide the empanada dough into two parts and roll out the first part on a floured surface with the help of a rolling pin. Roll out the dough until it covers an area equivalent to the mould we are going to use.

Transfer the dough to the mould, which has been previously floured. Add the meat filling, spreading it well over the entire surface. Leave a perimeter free for later sealing the dough.

Cover with the other half of the dough and roll it out in the same way as the first half. Seal the entire perimeter of the empanada by rolling the base with the dough cover.

With the tip of a knife, open a "chimney" or hole in the centre, so that the vapours can escape during baking. Brush the pastry with beaten egg. Use the leftover dough to decorate the surface of the pie.