Sandy Daza's Easy Peasy Corned Beef Mashed Potato Pie

Tis that time of year when you bring out your family’s heirloom recipes. The true Paskong Pinoy is not just about gifts but the sharing of food. And our best holiday memories center around the eating and drinking, and yes, the cooking. 

Trouble is, so many of our favorite traditional recipes — the ones handed down from lola — take a lot of work and a lot of ingredients. Worry not! Chef Sandy Daza of Casa Daza shares a delightfully easy family recipe that he’s making with his son Turs Daza. It’s perfect for the season and won’t take hours and hours of slow cooking to execute. Meet his luxuriously indulgent recipe for Crispy Corned Beef and Mashed Potato Pie. 

Basically a casserole of crispy fried corned beef baked in a mashed potato crust, this is an ideal dish for the chilly evenings of the season. The mashed potatoes give lovely, buttery texture that totally complements the bold, crunchy flavors of the corned beef. This is essentially comfort food that can hold its own on the dinner table next to fancier dishes. You can even bring this to a potluck party! 

The essential ingredient is really good corned beef, and for Sandy, that has to be Purefoods Corned Beef.

“Of course,” Turs agrees. He says that Purefoods Corned Beef was one of the first dishes he learned how to cook when he was living alone in Canada. “I actually had to go online and search how to cook it!” he laughs. 

As they demonstrate how to cook this dish, Sandy shares a few tips. Like: the onions don’t need to be browned, just cooked long enough to extract the flavor. These will work to bring enhance the big bold flavors of the corned beef.

Chef Sandy recommends to let the broth evaporate to allow the corned beef to get toasted. He heats the corned beef long enough to allow a ‘crust’ to develop beneath while it achieves a nice, crunchy texture. This is why it’s very important to use a nonstick pan. It will definitely be worth the wait!  

Salted butter is the essential seasoning for the mashed potato, and if you’re having difficulty mixing it, you can add a little cream. 

The crispy corned beef is layered on top of mashed potato in a casserole dish or baking pan, then garnished with tomatoes on top. To make the dish feel extra special, Sandy suggests to put mashed potato in a piping bag and pipe a border around the pie edge. Pop the dish inside the oven and broil. And just like that, you’ve got a winning dish that you’ll be proud to serve. 

Chef Sandy’s verdict? “It’s got a great play of textures, a little crunch from corned beef, and creaminess from mashed potatoes. It is delicious.”