Hachis parmentier

Tonight is a leftovers night, so I am featuring a brilliant recipe from my friend Patrick. He came up with this recipe for hachis parmentier - a fancy French version of cottage or shepherd's pie - with the hopes of recreating a wonderful version of the dish he, my husband and I have all eaten at a little cafe in the Marais district of Paris called Le Barometre (which we've loved and recommended to all our friends but which Patrick now tells us has changed chefs and gone downhill a bit - so if you try it and it's not so great, well, sorry).

My husband and I have made the dish at home a few times and it's been wooonderful. Last time we made it in our huge Le Creuset dutch oven and picked at it all week, so all we had to cook was a vegetable dish - great for when you can't/don't want to cook every night.

So over to Patrick:

"this is actually perfect timing, since i just made this for the first time in a while 2 nights ago, and i settled on the main balance proportions, which i always get wrong.

"i had 700 grams of beef the other night, which would have been perfect for the 4 people eating, but then i made mash with 2 kgs of potatoes, which was the perfect amount for the big dish i had (which would be more like 6-8 people), but too much for the small dish i intended to use and the amount of meat. so - i think 1 kg of potatoes for 700 grams to 1 kg of beef. i think 1 kg might end up *really* beefy, but some people (especially us americans) might like it that way.

"remember the british vs. american sandwich theory? in america, a sandwich is stuff with a bit of bread around it so you can hold it up; in britain, a sandwich is a lot of bread with a bit of stuff just to add some flavor. i think the same could be applied to american vs. french hachis proportions...

"so, for 4 people:

1 kg potatoes
700 grams lean ground beef
a mountain of butter
a gazillion onions
3-50 big cloves garlic
cornflour or other thickener
creme fraiche or equivalent (optional)
herbs de provence
nutmeg
milk
sugar
cheese for topping

"(i use a mix of grated emmental and grated parmesan, mixed with black pepper. traditionally is would just be emmental, which melts really nicely, but it's really bland, so i add parmesan and pepper to give it flavor. if you just use parmesan it just goes hard, so the emmental makes a good base. in england i'm sure you could also substitute some other tasty smooth-melting cheese, or add a bit of cheddar instead of parmesan.)

"so: start with the onions. slice up as many onions as you can stand. for my 700 grams of beef i used something like 6; my pan was overflowing with onions. you'll end up with something like 1/10th of the volume you start with, so don't be afraid. sautee them briefly in *a lot* of butter, just til they separate, then sprinkle on some sugar and cover to caramelize over a low heat. they should be sizzling but not browning. leave them covered for a million years, stirring every 10 or 20.

"for the mash: peel and cut up any larger potatoes (so all your pieces are roughly the same size), and boil or steam until just soft. don't cook too long or the mash comes out watery. drain and rough-mash them, then leave them hot in the pot for a while to let some of the water evaporate out.

"when they're cool enough to manipulate add the other half of your butter mountain, some milk, salt, nutmeg, and creme fraiche if you're using it (i used only 2 tbsps or so for 2 kgs of potatoes this time. probably don't need it at all). you want a rich, smooth, creamy but firm mash. the nutmeg is the secret. use not very much, but more than you think. add just enough so that you can identify its presence when you taste the mash on it's own. once it's been in the oven and is coupled with the beef, it will be unidentifiable, but key.

"when the onions have more or less melted and uber-caramelised (could take 45 minutes to an hour) take the lid off and turn the heat up a little, stirring for several minutes to cook out excess water. taste them - when they make your eyes roll up into the back of your head in onion glory they're done. crush in your garlic (we discussed this - i think just a bit of garlic - 3 or 4 cloves - in order to let the sweetness of the onions dominate, but it's at your discretion) and stir in for 2 or 3 minutes, then add the beef (and a little more butter if needed) lots of herbs de provence (way more than you think. really a lot.) and salt.

"keep stirring until the beef has all separated. i've toyed with trying to keep the beef raw so that it cooks in the oven, but i gave up on that. i think it's nicer when it's cooked in the butter. when it's all nice and glazed through, add a bit of thickener (optional) to hold the beef together a bit. i use a teaspoon or so or cornflour. taste it. it should be rich (but not *too* buttery, or the whole thing with the creamy mash will just be cloying), sweet (from the onions) and *super* perfumey (from the herbs).

"butter an appropriate baking dish (deep), and layer half your potato in the bottom. then layer all your beef, and top with the other half of the potato. pyrex is nice cuz then you can see the layers through the side. top with your cheese and black pepper mixture. i only put pepper in the cheese topping (quite a lot), but you could also but it anywhere else if you wanted (i'd say the beef sooner then the potato). put it in a hot preheated over (i do 210*) for 20 minutes or so, just to heat it through and settle it, then a blast of grill just to brown and crisp up the cheese. and voila! artery death!"

Thanks Patrick! And here are some more of his photos: