A shareable spud and meat staple

This month's FRIENDSHIP FOOD recipe made its way from the kitchen table to restaurants and back.

Bonjour! Bonjour!

Yes, I am writing to you from Paris and I’m delighted to be here and to have you with me.

Every time that we fly over, I promise myself that I’ll stay up the whole first day, but nope — even though I was crazy excited to be here and even though the day was gorgeous, by the time I unpacked (it’s embarrassing, but after 25 years, I still don’t know how to just bundle up my laptop, notebooks and pencils and get on the plane), I was worthless and needed a nap. But I’ve been vertical every day since. A double treat: I’m in Paris and walking under my own steam — my knee seems fine (as I knock on wood while typing), which is such a good thing, given that our metro station is 70 steps down and 70 steps up.

It’s been croissants and coffee ever since — the croissant below is from Isabelle.

Pizza night, too. Dan Pearson, who was making fabulous worth-traveling-across- town pizzas on off nights at Le Rigmarole, now, along with the Rig team, has his own place, Oobatz, and as Meg Zimbeck wrote in Paris by Mouth, it’s worth the hassle of nabbing yourself a reservation.

And dinners chez us, including one with Jane Bertch, she of La Cuisine Paris and The French Ingredient, which was exceedingly homey, even if the main course was inspired by a dish I had in a restaurant. And even if that dish is usually served at home — a delicious kind of roundabout.

The evolution of the dish was such fun and the dish so good and so perfect for sharing, that it’s my pick for this month’s FRIENDSHIP FOOD recipe. Ladies and gentlemen, I offer you the humble hachis parmentier, also doing business in homes across the world as Shepherd’s or Cottage Pie.

And because a FRIENDSHIP FOOD recipe always includes a donation in the name of my friends — that would be you, my readers — this month I contributed in your honor to Heifer International, an organization that seeks to eradicate poverty and hunger by providing resources and education to farmers and their communities around the world.

Crying with a view, or chopping onions in my Paris kitchen

Hachis Parmentier/Shepherd’s Pie

The first time I saw hachis parmentier on the menu at Le Bistrot Paul Bert in Paris, I was surprised — this is a dish that’s regularly served at home and rarely in a restaurant, even in a bistro. I was also delighted — it’s a wonderful dish and I’ve never met anyone who eats meat who doesn’t like it. In fact, as I wrote in Around My French Table years ago [Get a copy at Amazon or Bookshop.org], I’d finished a luxurious meal at Restaurant Daniel in New York City, and asked the chef, Daniel Boulud, what he’d be having that night. His dinner was going to be hachis parmentier and he told me this with the same glee you’d expect him to muster for blini and caviar. It is for French people what mac ‘n’ cheese, spaghetti and meatballs, and mom’s best roast chicken is for us Americans: A dish that takes you home. It’s a base of well-seasoned meat — usually leftovers — topped with mashed potatoes. While shepherd’s pie is often built on lamb, hachis parmentier can be any kind of meat and, if it’s made from leftover pot-au-feu, a classic boiled dinner, it might be several kinds of meat. The meat is highly seasoned, moistened with broth and then spooned into a baking dish — think casserole — topped with mashed potatoes and baked until the potatoes are browned and everything on the bottom bubbles up to the top and gets drippy. Think sloppy Joes with spuds.

Photo by Alan Richardson for Around My French Table

In fact, the dish that brought hachis parmentier to mind at Paul Bert was tomate farcie (stuffed tomato), where an heirloom tomato from the bistro’s farm is filled with a mixture reminiscent of a sloppy Joe, and then served on a bed of tomato-rice. It’s a dish that’s so popular in France that many butchers sell it all put together and ready for you to take home, bake and pass off as grandma’s.

Paul Bert's hachis Parmentier and tomate farcie, and a butcher-prepared tomate farcie

Since it’s unlikely I’d ever have the remains of a pot-au-feu hanging around — and rarely have leftover potted meat (although I did make an excellent hachis parmentier from the bits that I salvaged from my favorite stew [recipe for that stew here] ) — I began making the dish from scratch, using ground meat or cut up pieces of inexpensive beef, and amping up the flavor with sausage and spices.

The joy of a hachis parmentier is that it’s happy to be nudged in whatever direction you like — just like meatloaf, meatballs and sloppy Joes.

This past weekend I made a version that nodded to North Africa.

Photo by Ellen Silverman for Everyday Dorie

I’ve got that recipe for you. And I’ve got pictures of the Mediterranean-ish pie for you, too. What I’m missing is what food stylists call “the hero” — the picture that sets you to imagining what it would be like to serve the dish in your own home. For this recipe, the hero would have been a generous ladleful of the meat and potatoes in a bowl (I like this as bowl-food) with a glistening green salad snug up against it. Sadly, instead of snapping a picture of the food, I served it. It wasn’t until we were reaching into the center of the table to take seconds that I realized I hadn’t caught the moment. Instead, we ate everything when it was hot and fragrant and delicious. I’m sure you understand.

Maybe this is our new definition of FRIENDSHIP FOOD, delicious food that encourages friendship.

MEDITERRANEAN-ISH HACHIS PARMENTIER / SHEPHERD’S PIE

• Adapted from EVERYDAY DORIE [Get a copy at Amazon | Bookshop.org]

• Click here for printable recipe

GOOD TO KNOW BEFORE YOU START

Working ahead: You can make the filling up to 2 days ahead and keep it refrigerated, covered. Alternatively, you can assemble the pie, freeze it for up to 2 months and bake it straight from the freezer. To do this, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and count on it taking about 1 hour to heat through. If the potatoes brown too much before the liquid starts to bubble, tent the pie loosely with foil.

The potatoes: I’ve gotta confess: I bought potatoes to boil and mash and then, at the last minute, I made an expedient decision — I used frozen potatoes from Picard: little pellets of potatoes already mixed with butter and heavy cream that I reconstituted with water on the stovetop.

The spices, herbs and seasonings: You may want to increase the amount of seasoning. I used a different harissa and different sausage this time and found that I needed to build in more flavor. When the meats are cooked through and safe to eat, taste and see if you want more of anything.

For the squash and spinach: Vegetables like these are an untraditional addition, but I love having their color and textures. Other vegetables that work well include small pieces of turnip, celery root or carrots, peas or even cabbage or fennel.

Serves 4 - 6, but you can easily multiply the recipe to feed a crowd

INGREDIENTS

For the potatoes

• About 2 1/2 pounds (about 1 kg) potatoes (I like Yukon Golds here), peeled and cut into 2-inch chunks

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 4 to 6 tablespoons whole milk or heavy cream

• Fine sea salt and freshly ground pepper

For the filling

• 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil

• 1 pound (454 grams) ground lamb, beef, turkey or chicken

• 1/2 pound (227 grams) hot or mild sausage meat (pork, chicken or turkey)

• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped, rinsed and patted dry

• 2 garlic cloves, germ removed and minced

• 1 1/2 teaspoons fine sea salt

• Freshly ground pepper

• 1/2 cup (120 ml) chicken broth

• 1 tablespoon ground cumin

• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground sumac or grated zest of 1 lemon

• 1 1/2 teaspoons za’atar or 1 teaspoon dried oregano

• 1/2 teaspoon harissa paste or 1 1/2 teaspoons harissa powder or harissa sauce (to taste)

• 1 cup (200 grams) canned crushed tomatoes

• 1/2 pound (227 grams) peeled butternut squash, cut into 1-inch cubes

• 2 handfuls baby kale or spinach

• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, cut into bits, or olive oil (optional)

DIRECTIONS

I like to get the potatoes going while I’m working on the filling. If you’d prefer, make the filling first. Either way, keep in mind that the potatoes will be easier to spread over the filling if they’re warm.

To make the potatoes: Drop the potato chunks into a large pot of cold salted water. Bring to a boil over high heat and cook until the potatoes mash easily when pressed against the side of the pot, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, put the empty pot back over medium heat, return the potatoes to the pot and cook, stirring and turning them, for about 1 minute, until they are dry. Spoon the potatoes into a food mill or ricer set over a bowl and run them through it. (Of course, you can mash the potatoes with a fork, but a mill or ricer will make them fluffier.) Stir the butter and 1/4 cup of the milk or cream into the potatoes, along with ample salt and pepper, and taste them — add more of whatever you think they need. Set aside.

Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 375 degrees F. Put a deep-dish pie plate (or an ovenproof casserole with a capacity of about 2 quarts) on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or foil.

To make the filling: Put a large skillet over medium heat, add 1 tablespoon of the oil and when it’s hot, add the ground meat and sausage. Cook, stirring and pressing the meat to break it up, for about 2 minutes; as you’re cooking, drizzle in up to 1 more tablespoon of oil if you think you need it.

Then add another tablespoon of oil, along with the onion and garlic, season with the salt and a few grinds of pepper and cook over low heat until the onions soften, about 10 minutes.

Add the chicken broth, turn the heat up a little and scrape up any browned bits stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Stir in the spices and cook for a minute, then add the crushed tomatoes and bring to a gentle simmer. Scatter over the pieces of squash, cover the pan (with its lid or a baking sheet) and cook over low heat until the squash is fork-tender, about 20 minutes. (I had a truly stubborn butternut — it took 45 minutes to soften; go by tenderness, not time.) Stir in the kale or spinach and taste for salt, pepper and seasonings. If you add more herbs, spices or harissa, cook the mixture for another few minutes to fully incorporate these latecomers — don’t worry, you can’t overcook this.

Spoon the filling into the pie plate, adding enough of the liquid in the pan to come up and around the edges of the mix. (There’s usually just the right amount left in the skillet. My own preference is to go for juicier rather than drier. If you need more liquid, add broth.) Top with the potatoes, smoothing them over the filling or making swoops and swirls out to the edges of the pie plate. (At this point, the pie can be refrigerated until cool, wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.) If you’d like, dot the top of the potatoes with the butter or brush them with a little olive oil.

Bake the pie for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is bubbling and the potatoes are browned here and there. If you’d like to get them crusty brown, run them under the broiler. Serve immediately, preferably in shallow soup plates.

STORING: You can keep leftover pie covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat, covered, in a conventional or microwave oven.

Photo: Jane Bertch

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