Pastel de papas — Chilean beef pie with egg, olives and raisins under a golden mash
Chilean pastel de papas: beef pino with hard-boiled egg, olives and raisins under a creamy mash with a sugar crust. Serves 6, ready in 1 hour 35 minutes.
Recipe in testing. We published it before cooking it in our kitchen. Once we cook it, we will adjust whatever it needs and remove this note.
What pastel de papas is and how it is eaten in Chile
Pastel de papas is a classic of Chilean home cooking: a baked dish with a layer of pino on the bottom, minced beef cooked with onion, sweet paprika, cumin and oregano, covered with slices of hard-boiled egg, olives and raisins and then with mashed potato made with butter and milk. Before baking, the mash is sprinkled with sugar, which caramelises into a golden crust. It resembles a British shepherd's or cottage pie, but the pino gives it a character of its own. It shares its filling with pastel de choclo and, since potatoes have no short season, it is cooked all year round. It is served hot as a one-dish meal with a seasonal salad: ensalada chilena in summer, cabbage or celery in winter.
Ingredients
Instructions
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Pino filling
Brown the beef
Heat the oil in a wide frying pan or a broad pot over medium-high heat and add the minced beef. Cook it for 6-8 minutes, breaking up the lumps with a wooden spoon, until it loses its pink colour and turns golden in places. If it does not fit in a single layer, brown it in two batches: crowded in the pan, the meat stews in its own juices, turns grey and the pino loses flavour.
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Cook the pino over low heat
Add the onion, paprika, cumin, oregano and merkén, if using, and stir for a minute so the spices tint the fat red. Lower the heat to medium-low and cook for 15 minutes, stirring now and then, until the onion is soft and translucent; meanwhile, get the potatoes going (next step). Season with salt and pepper and taste: the mash is mild, so the pino needs to be well seasoned. It should be juicy but with no loose liquid: if it looks dry, add 3-4 tablespoons of hot water, and if there is too much liquid, turn up the heat for 2-3 minutes. Spread it in an even layer in the baking dish, about 30 × 22 cm, and let it cool slightly: warm rather than hot, it settles and holds up the mash better.
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Mashed potato topping
Boil the potatoes and eggs
Peel the potatoes and cut them into even 4-5 cm chunks. Put them in a pot, cover with cold water, add the 2 teaspoons of salt and bring to the boil: starting from cold lets them cook evenly, instead of falling apart on the outside while the centre is still hard. From the moment the water boils, cook them over medium heat for 15-20 minutes, until a knife slides through with no resistance. In another pot, cover the eggs with cold water, cook them for 10 minutes from the boil and move them to a bowl of cold water; then peel and slice them. Cover the raisins with hot water so they plump up and do not dry out in the oven, and heat the oven to 200 °C.
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Mash the potatoes with butter and warm milk
Warm the milk without letting it boil. Drain the potatoes well, return them to the pot and leave them over low heat for 1-2 minutes, shaking the pot, until the remaining water evaporates: dry potato takes up the butter better and makes a firmer mash. Mash them while hot with a potato masher or pass them through a ricer; do not use a blender or food processor, which break down the starch and leave a gluey, elastic paste. Stir in the butter and, once it has melted, the warm milk a little at a time, using a wooden spoon, until the mash is smooth and holds its shape on the spoon: it has to sit on top of the pino, not spread like a sauce. You may have milk left over. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.
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Assembly and baking
Assemble the pie
Drain the raisins and pat them dry with kitchen paper. Arrange the egg slices, olives and raisins over the pino so that every portion gets a little of each. Spoon the mash on top in dollops, working from the edges towards the centre, then join them up with a spatula or the back of a spoon: if you tip it all in at once and drag it around, it pulls the filling with it and the layers mix. Cover right to the edge of the dish to seal in the pino, leaving an even layer 2-3 cm thick. Finally, run a fork over the whole surface to mark grooves: the ridges colour first and the topping browns better. For individual portions, assemble it in 6 clay pailas or small baking dishes.
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Sprinkle with sugar and bake the pie
Sprinkle the sugar evenly over the mash, without letting it gather in one spot: in the heat it melts into a golden, barely sweet crust that contrasts with the savoury pino. Bake on the middle shelf at 200 °C for 20-25 minutes (15-20 if you use individual pailas), until the top is golden, with darker ridges, and the filling bubbles at the edges. If it is still pale after 20 minutes, switch on the grill for 3-5 minutes and stay close: sugar goes from golden to burnt very quickly and turns bitter. If you assembled the pie ahead and it goes in cold from the fridge, it needs 35-40 minutes.
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Rest 5 minutes and serve
Take the pie out of the oven and let it rest for 5 minutes: the filling settles and the portions come out whole instead of collapsing on the plate. Cut it into 6 portions and lift them out with a wide spatula so each one has mash, egg and pino. It goes well with a fresh seasonal salad: ensalada chilena of tomato and onion in summer, or a cabbage or celery salad in winter.
Nutrition information
| Calories | 580 kcal |
|---|---|
| Protein | 30 g |
| Carbs | 57 g |
| Sugars | 13 g |
| Fat | 27 g |
| Trans fat | 1 g |
Values per serving (1 of 4).
Frequently asked questions
Which potato is best for pastel de papas?
A floury potato, with more starch and less water, which falls apart when cooked and makes a fluffy, firm mash. In Chile, Yagana is one of the varieties suited to mashing and frying, and in general potatoes sold for frying or baking also mash well; elsewhere, look for russet, Maris Piper or King Edward. Avoid new potatoes and salad potatoes, which are waxier: they give a watery or gluey mash that will not hold up on the pino. If you only have all-purpose potatoes, dry them well in the pot after draining and add the milk more carefully.
Why is my mash watery or gluey?
Watery: the potatoes took on too much water, because they were cut too small, overcooked or not drained well, or the milk went in all at once. Fix it by stirring the mash over low heat for 2-3 minutes, until it dries out a little, before assembling. Gluey or elastic: it was worked in a blender or food processor, or beaten too much, and the starch broke down; there is no fix, although it is still perfectly edible. To avoid both, use floury potatoes, dry them in the pot, mash them hot and add the warm milk a little at a time.
Does pastel de papas have sugar on top? Can I use cheese instead?
The traditional version has sugar sprinkled over the mash, just like pastel de choclo: in the oven it caramelises into a golden, barely sweet crust that contrasts with the pino. One tablespoon is enough for a 30 × 22 cm dish. Many families swap it for grated cheese, such as parmesan or a mild melting cheese, and others use both; with cheese, bake for the same time, until golden and bubbling. If you want neither, dot the mash with small pieces of butter so it browns.
Does the mash go only on top, or underneath as well?
Both ways exist. Many recipes leave the pino on the bottom and the mash only on top, as in pastel de choclo, and that is how this one works. Others spread a thin layer of mash in the dish first, then the pino with the egg, olives and raisins, and the rest of the mash on top. If you prefer it that way, use a third of the mash for the base and two thirds for the top; the base soaks up juice from the pino and turns softer, so keep the pino juicy but without loose liquid.
Can I make it ahead or freeze it?
Yes. The pino can be made the day before and kept covered in the fridge; it gains flavour as it rests. You can also assemble the whole pie up to a day ahead and bake it from cold, 35-40 minutes at 200 °C, until it bubbles at the edges. Once baked, it keeps for 3 days in the fridge and reheats in a 180 °C oven, covered with foil, until the centre is piping hot (74 °C). To freeze it, assemble it without the hard-boiled egg, which turns rubbery, wrap it well and keep it for up to 2 months; thaw it in the fridge before baking.
What is the difference between pastel de papas and pastel de choclo?
They share the beef pino with onion, sweet paprika, cumin and oregano, and also the hard-boiled egg, olives and raisins; what changes is the topping. Pastel de choclo has a topping of ground corn with basil, is made in summer, when starchy choclo humero is in season, and its pino usually includes chicken as well. Pastel de papas is covered with mashed potato made with butter and milk, can be made all year round and is simpler, because the mash does not need to be cooked while stirring like the corn topping. Both are sprinkled with sugar and browned in the oven.
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