Empadão de atum is the weeknight hero of Portuguese home cooking: canned tuna and vegetables under a blanket of nutmeg-scented mashed potatoes, baked until the top turns golden. Humble ingredients, honest comfort.
This version adds eggplant to the filling, which melts into the tuna and gives the pie a silkier, more generous texture — a trick worth stealing for other empadões too.
It is easy to adapt (swap the vegetables, change the protein, top it with cheese) and even easier to make ahead: assemble it, keep it in the fridge, and bake when hunger strikes. Serve with a side salad and dinner is done.
Empadão de Atum Recipe
What you need
Ingredients
- 1⅓ pounds potatoes (about 4 medium)
- Salt and pepper, to taste
- 2 eggplants
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
- 1 jar or 2 cans (about 10 oz) tuna in water, drained
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- Chopped parsley, to taste
- Scant ½ cup milk, hot
- Nutmeg, to taste
- 1 egg yolk, for brushing
Cook along
Instructions
- Wash the potatoes, halve them and cook in salted water until tender.
- Meanwhile, trim the eggplants and slice them into thin strips.
- Finely chop the onion and garlic, and shred the drained tuna with a fork.
- Heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion, garlic and eggplant until soft. Add ¾ cup water and bring to a boil.
- Off the heat, stir in the tuna and parsley, and season with salt and pepper.
- Peel the cooked potatoes and pass them through a food mill (or ricer) to make a mash.
- Beat the hot milk into the mash and season with nutmeg.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spread the tuna mixture in a baking dish, cover with the mashed potatoes and smooth the top.
- Brush with the egg yolk and bake about 20 minutes, until golden.
- Serve hot with a side salad.
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