Portuguese Style Suckling Pig Mashed Potato Pie • Empadão de Leitão

What to do with all those leftover pieces of roasted suckling pig? Hehehehe, why not make a Portuguese Empadão (mashed potato filled pie)! Here’s the thing about cooked meats, they immediately start losing moisture and drying out once they’re done. Using leftover roasted pork in many dishes doesn’t work so well because you’re just drying out the meat even more, when what you want is to make it more tender.

That’s why this is such a brilliant idea, leaving the pork in cooking juices or using the meat inside pastry like pork rissoles or croquettes. But here we’re wrapping it in creamy mashed potatoes! The Empadão doesn’t just prevent the pork from drying out, it actually adds more moisture to the meat. This is an excellent way to use up those roasted pork leftovers, I even threw in both the meat and crispy skin, everything goes in!

This is a delicious Portuguese style recipe traditionally made with roasted suckling pig, but you can absolutely use regular roasted pork, and it will still be incredibly delicious. Don’t skip on the chorizo, though, it gives that extra touch of saltiness that makes this dish absolutely irresistible. Let’s get to the recipe!

Portuguese Style Suckling Pig Mashed Potato Pie • Empadão de Leitão

Servings: 8
Time: 50mins
Difficulty: Normal
Rating: ★★★★★
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Nothing like roasted pork with mashed potatoes, just like that separate but its even better if you add it inside the mashed potatoes.

Ingredients

Suckling Pig – 300g (already roasted and shredded)
Chorizo – A few slices
Potatoes – 7 potatoes (large for mashing)
Butter – 1 tablespoon
Milk – As needed
Egg – 1
Nutmeg – A pinch
Paprika – A pinch
Pepper – A pinch
Salt – A pinch

Directions

Start by peeling and boiling the potatoes in a pot with plenty of hot water and a pinch of salt. Boil them until they are tender. You can check if they are done by piercing them with a knife; if you don’t feel any resistance, they are ready.
Then drain the potatoes and mash them with a potato masher, food mill, or fork, don’t over mix.
Add the butter, nutmeg, paprika, salt, and pepper, and mix just a bit more.

Now add milk to your liking to create a creamier or thicker purée. I like it thicker, so I only added a little milk, a few tablespoons, just to loosen the purée a little.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (180ºC) and get an ovenproof dish or Pyrex dish.

Shred and chop the suckling pig. I usually shred some parts, dice others, and shred more others, so I get different textures and bigger pieces of meat.

Then pour half of the purée into the dish, cover with the shredded suckling pig and finally cover with the remaining purée, smooth it out (you can make some scratches with a fork just to create more space for the purée to become crispy) and add a few slices of chorizo.

Finally, whisk an egg and brush it generously over the top, then bake in the oven until golden brown. Note that as everything is already cooked, you only need to worry about the top being golden brown before removing it from the oven.
That’s it, remove from the oven, and it’s ready to serve. Bon appétit!

Notes: I made mashed potatoes from scratch, but if you’re short on time, you can always use instant mashed potato flakes or frozen mashed potatoes without any problems.

If you have leftover gravy or juices from the roasted pork, add these to the meat before assembling the empadão, it will make it even more flavourful.

Don’t worry about perfect layering, the rustic, homestyle appearance is part of its charm.

You can substitute the chorizo with any good quality smoked sausage, but the Portuguese chorizo really does add that authentic touch of smoky saltiness.

This recipe for Portuguese Style Suckling Pig Mashed Potato Pie • Empadão de Leitão was originally created on BakeAfter.com. Esta receita de Empadão de Leitão Assado foi publicada em português no Iguaria.com.