French Friday with Dorie: Hachis Parmentier

We are into week four with French Fridays with Dorie and this week the recipe is hachis parmentier, the French version of shepherd's pie. I made it this past Sunday and it was a perfect day for this kind of dish - cool and a little rainy.

Dorie suggested using cube steak, but I had some beef stew meat in the freezer so I wanted to use that, but I also picked up a pound of lamb neck to give it extra flavor. Lamb neck is a wonderful tender cut and very inexpensive.

The meat was cooked in a dutch oven along with onion, carrot, celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaf, water, salt and pepper. My husband wanted me to just leave it at that and make a stew because the smell made him so hungry!

Once the meat cooked, I let it cool and then chopped it into very small pieces.

Since I used beef and lamb for the filling, I decided not to add the sausage as the recipe called for thinking it would be too much, but in hindsight I think it would have given the hachis parmentier even more flavor. Next time I will be sure to add it. Dorie said that traditionally the hachis parmentier is vegetableless, but I couldn't help myself. I chopped some carrots and celery and added to the meat filling along with some of the reserved broth and a couple of teaspoons of tomato paste, and more salt and pepper to taste.

I topped the meat and vegetable filling with garlic mashed potatoes and put it in the oven until the topping started to get a golden brown crust.

I have always loved the taste of shepherd's pie and even though I deviated somewhat from Dorie's recipe, it still tasted a little different than the shepherd's pie I have made in the past. The mixture of beef, lamb, and vegetables was delicious and the perfect comfort food on a rainy Sunday. 

Next French Friday: Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake