Empada de carne

This empada de carne is Portuguese comfort food at its most shameless: a savory filling of ground beef and chorizo under a golden crust of mashed potatoes, striped with a fork and studded with chorizo slices before it goes into the oven.

The chorizo is the secret weapon here — blitzed with the beef, it seasons the whole filling with its smoky paprika depth, so you get big flavor from a short ingredient list.

It is also a meal-prep dream: make the mash ahead, cook the filling in one pan, assemble and bake when you are ready. Serve it with a crisp green salad and watch it disappear.

Empada de Carne Recipe

Prep time: 20 minutes · Cook time: 30 minutes · Total: 50 minutes · Servings: 4 · Calories: ~334 per serving

Ingredients

• 1½ pounds ground beef
• ½ chorizo sausage
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Ground cumin, to taste
• Chopped parsley, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• 2 pounds mashed potatoes (frozen or homemade)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk

Instructions

1. Skin the chorizo and cut it into slices, reserving 10 for the top. Chop the rest in a food processor and mix it with the ground beef.
2. Finely chop the onion and garlic.
3. Heat the olive oil in a pan and cook the onion and garlic over low heat until golden.
4. Add the beef-chorizo mixture and cook until it changes color.
5. Season with cumin, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, mix, and remove from the heat.
6. Spread half the mashed potatoes in a baking dish, layer the meat over it, cover with the remaining mash and smooth the top.
7. Brush with the egg yolk beaten with the milk, draw lines with a fork, arrange the reserved chorizo slices on top, and bake at 400°F until golden.
8. Serve immediately, ideally with a mixed green salad.

Recipe Notes

• Carrots, peas or corn bulk up the filling nicely; chicken or pork work instead of beef.
• Grated cheese in (or on) the mash gives a richer crust.
• Sweet potato mash is a lovely variation — slightly sweet against the smoky filling.
• Paprika or chili powder in the filling, or a pinch of nutmeg in the mash, are easy flavor upgrades.