Tuna polvorosa is a savory pie. It’s inspired by a classic dish from the Caracas cuisine, with a twist.
The traditional pot pie recipe, named Polvorosa de Pollo calls for a chicken stew. But since I’m not a poultry person, I successfully substituted chicken for albacore tuna fish.
This savory tuna pot pie is seasoned with a sofrito made of onions, garlic, celery, red bell peppers, ideally ají dulce —which I don’t have in Southern California— and tomatoes. Then, it’s enhanced with raisins and sliced stuffed manzanilla olives, and finally cooked with white wine.
The combination of tuna, sofrito, raisins and olives brings to the table the real caraqueño seasoning. It brings remembrances of the pork stew that we cook to make our very traditional hallacas.
The name polvorosa, literally “made out of dust” and it refers to the pie dough which is so easy to break and for the same reason hard to handle. Fortunately, now that I mastered the art of making pie dough, I don’t have that problem.
I love this polvorosa because I love sweet and savory in one dish. I also love it because it’s the kind of dish that is a meal itself and it’s very fulfilling.
This is not an everyday meal. You cook this on special occasions.
Like when my brother in law, fascinating historian, author and storyteller Larry Massie, comes from Michigan to spend the weekend with us. To Larry, here is my recipe.
Savory Albacore Tuna Polvorosa
Servings: 10
Ingredients
- 2 pie dough recipes
- 3 Tbs . olive oil
- 1 onion finely chopped
- 3 garlic cloves minced
- 1 celery stalk finely chopped
- 1 red bell pepper finely chopped
- 1 cup crushed or finely diced tomatoes
- 4 7- oz cans of albacore tuna packed in water strained and grossly crumbled
- ¾ cup raisins
- ¾ cup red pepper stuffed manzanilla olives sliced
- 1 cup white wine
- Coarse sea salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 1 Tsp . molasses
Instructions
- In a deep pan over medium heat, sauté the onions and garlic in olive oil for 5 minutes, until wilted.
- Add celery, red bell pepper and cook for 5 minutes more.
- Add tomatoes, tuna, raisins, olives and wine and cook uncovered until it boils.
- Boil for 5 minutes, until the liquids reduce to half.
- Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 20 minutes. Reserve.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- On a floured surface, roll the dough of one recipe, with a dusted roller, until ½ to ¼ inch thick.
- Transfer the dough to a pie dish and slightly press the bottom and sides of the dish. Roll the roller over the edges to trim them.
- Evenly pour the tuna stew and fill the pie dish.
- Add more flour to the working surface and roll the other pie recipe with a dusted roller, until ½ to ¼ inch thick.
- Cover the pie dish with the dough.
- Roll the roller over the edges and evenly trim them.
- Evenly prick the pie with a fork.
- Bake in the middle rack of the oven for 45 minutes.
- In the meantime, in a bowl, whisk the egg and the molasses with a fork.
- Brush the pie with the egg and molasses mixture and bake it for 5 more minutes, until golden.
- Let stand in a cooling rack for at least 30 minutes before serving.
Did you make this recipe?
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