Every now and then you find a recipe that speaks to you on an entirely different level. A recipe that you think about long after you’ve eaten it. A recipe that, should it transmorgify into human form, would give your spouse a serious run for his or her money. Yes, I want to marry Hachis Parmentier. At the very least I want to be alone in a room with it and a big spoon.
Can you blame me? It’s an extraordinarily delicious meat concoction on the bottom and pharmaceutical-quality mashed potatoes on top. It’s definitive comfort food and it’s French so you can eat all you want and not get fat!
Despite the fact that in my adulthood I have become a much more adventurous eater than I ever would have thought possible, I’m still a meat and potatoes girl at heart.  (If my college roommate is reading this she can testify to the times when I was sick with the “Irish flu” and she was kind enough to bring me dinner from the cafeteria. And what did I want? Nothing more than a large plate of mashed potatoes. And they were dorm mashed potatoes so you know I had it bad). So a Frenched-up version of shepherd’s pie and I were made for each other.
The filling starts with a very simple beef stock (I swear it’s simple: just some meat and veggies thrown in a pot and simmered for 90 minutes). You will then use both the broth and the meat as well as some sweet Italian sausages and a bit of tomato paste. The potatoes are just boiled, drained and mashed with whole milk, cream and butter and then spread over the meat filling. Gruyere and a tiny bit of parmesan are sprinkled on top (along with a little extra butter) and the whole thing is baked until the filling is bubbly and the potatoes are browned.
Although Dorie recommends using a ricer or a food mill to mash the potatoes I openly defied her because I’m not a big fan of my food mill. For me, it’s an extremely awkward and inefficient device and I’ve managed to find a successful work-around for almost every recipe that’s ever called for it. This time I just tossed the cooked potatoes in my stand mixer and it worked perfectly.
I can’t wait to hear what you all think of this!
Oh, I had forgotten that rule about eating all the French food you want…:)
Wasn’t this good? I used the cube steaks and since they look kind of awful I was pleasantly surprised by how good the meat was.
I know, right? I never would have picked out cube steak but it works very well here.
Looks good, might be one of my dinners next week!
Boiled cube steak? If this came from another source I would be skeptical, but I trust you. In fact, I have some cube steak languishing in the freezer from an exuberant meat shopping spree – is there any way you could send me the recipe so I can try this for myself? Pretty please?
Darcie I do not have it with me here at work so I could send it over the weekend. But if you want it right now, they gave out a “starter pack” of recipes on the French Fridays with Dorie site so if you register you can get it (along with gougeres, the Vietnamese chicken soup, the mustard tart and a lovely, simple apple cake).
Like you I could live an die by mashed potatos – the BEST THING EVER!
I just used a potato mashed which smashed the potatoes up pretty well and adding the time the liquid and butter made the potatoes even more pliable that within minutes, I had creamy and fluffy mashed potatoes. No food mill needed!
Love love love your tweaks to the recipe, including making it in individual serving dishes and thinking about sweet potatoes.
Hold the phone!
I LOVE my Oxo Potato Ricer. I use it all the time when I make mashed potatoes. I steam the potatoes so they don’t get waterlogged then put them through the ricer. Next, I add heated cream – and if I have had too much wine to think straight, copious amounts of unsalted butter – and beat with an electric hand mixer. If I think Joel Robuchon or Patricia Wells might be unexpectedly dropping in for dinner, I also put the potatoes through a tamis (a fine sieve) I got in Paris. The resulting potatoes are heavenly.
And, just for the record, I like my Oxo Food Mill too.
This looks delicious, and I just peaked in the book to check out the recipe. Sounds perfect for this time of year. Good one!
I, like Victoria ,LOVE my food mill. It makes the absolute best potatoes and tomatoe sauces. Your post was great. How good was this?! I made it early in the week and today it is so cold and rainy I’m wishing I had it all over again. Wouldn’t it be nice if Joel and Patricia just droped on by? Ha Ha..
Hi, Beth.
I always use my food mill for my tomato sauces and think it’s the best. But this year I “put up” (froze in one-cup increments) 3 bushels of tomatoes I picked at a farm upstate near where I spend the weekends. And for the two last bushels instead of my food mill, I resurrected an Italian Tomato Press I had gotten from Williams-Sonoma in the early 90’s. (They have a newer version of one available now.) The reason it is fantastic for that job is that instead of having to clean it out all the time like the food mill, it shoots the pulp and juice out one side and the seeds and skins out another (at a 90 degree, not 180 degree angle), so you don’t have to clean the sieve part until YOU ARE DONE! I will not take it out for one pan of tomato sauce, but for a huge amount, it is wonderful.
Well, that roommate was really something sweet, wasn’t she 🙂
Yes. Still is!
I’d love this recipe, too. Sounds delicious!
fitzie
PS – I’m not keen on using food mills for potatoes . Prefer a ricer or a fork! And I’ve made tons of mashed potatoes.
I vote for the ricer.
So .. got the book for Christmas and have all the ingredients in the freezer. Problem is there are only two of us. I plan to make this sometimet this week. Do you think it would be better to freeze part before or after baking? Just freeze part of the meat after it’s cooked? I’m not a freezer person so don’t have any skills in this area. What do you think?
Fitzie
Your review of this recipe inspired me to put this cookbook on my Christmas wish list. Since getting the cookbook, I made a few other recipes from it, and they were fine although nothing to go crazy about, and then last weekend I made this. Wow! This tasted amazing. My kids and husband loved it too. I can’t wait to make it again. For anyone who’s considering making this– if you use the cube steak, the directions say to cut it into small pieces. Later on, you fish those out of the broth and cut them into “tiny” pieces. I made the mistake of cutting my “small” pieces on the “tiny” side, so it took a while to pick them out. Other than that, it was an easy recipe to follow and it tasted great.
What did you make that you weren’t crazy about?
Glad you liked the Hachis, I need to make that again!
Thanks!