Saturday Supper - Hachis Parmentier

My own 'supper' this evening will be at the slightly posher School Reunion but today's recipe is really yummy I promise, it's sort of a glorified cottage pie but different. I first had this at my beloved Alex's place when he lived in London, of course he always tinkered with recipes so this has his own little twist. Still miss him so much, you know when you have a male friend who you can have a real bitch with? That was Alex - frightfully camp and screamingly funny. He would absolutely relish Blogland I'm sure and would have fitted in with the Playground antics no problem :)

Here we go - sorry it's not in metric, which shows how old the recipe is:

Hachis Parmentier

Serves 4

20oz minced beef
4oz onions
1 oz fat (I used oil)
1/4 pint white wine (yup, white not red)
1 pint bouillon (Alex's twist is to use a can of beef consommé - I used Baxters)
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1lb potatoes
Butter and milk

Chop and lightly brown the onions in fat/oil. Dust them with flour and add the wine and bouillon. Add mince and tomato puree, season well and simmer gently for 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.

While the mince is cooking, boil, mash and then cream the potatoes with butter and milk.

Place the mince  in a shallow baking dish, top with the potato and bake in a hot oven for about 20 minutes.

Alex used to brush the top of the creamed potato with melted butter and beaten egg after the first 8 to 10 minutes - I don't do that, but I sprinkle grated cheese over the top before placing in the oven, Gruyere is best but mild Cheddar works fine.

It's unusual in that I was always taught to brown/seal mince before adding any liquid. As this recipe did originate from France though I just follow what Alex taught me to do - plus any over browning might taint the flavour of the white wine.

It's very much a 'fork' meal - quite soft and moist, lovely with very gently steamed cabbage.

Enjoy!

Di
x