When I was a child, I did not like this dish at all, because in a "hachis" [ground] (term that refers to the fact that the ingredients are ground), I could not really see what I was eating... Today, however, like many of my Parisian friends, I am in love with this dish, which after all has also found its noble origins in the many breweries of the capital that propose it. Here is my recipe:
Ingredients (for 4 peoples)
• 1 kg of potatoes
• 1 onion
• 50 g of butter or margarine
• about 300 g of leftover meat already cooked
• 1 clove of garlic
• 2 glasses of milk
• 50 g of grated gruyère or breadcrumbs
• Salt and pepper
• 1 teaspoon of water to add to the onion to avoid burning it.
Preparation:
• Peel the potatoes, and cook in boiling water for 25-30 minutes.
• Chop the onion and brown it in a pan over a very low flame for 10 minutes, adding a knob of butter or margarine.
• Chop the meat and garlic, and put the chopped in the pan, cooking it for a few minutes. Add salt and pepper. Continue to cook for 5 minutes.
Realization:
• Turn on the lower part of the oven.
• Crush the potatoes and add, with the help of a wooden spoon, first 20 g of butter (or margarine), then the boiling milk, salt and pepper.
• Butter a baking dish and arrange half the mashed potatoes, the minced meat, then cover with the remaining mash.
• Sprinkle with grated gruyère cheese or breadcrumbs, adding a few flakes of butter (or margarine). Sauté in the upper part of the oven (thermostat 7/8) for about 15 minutes.
My opinion:
The hachis Parmentier can be an appetizer, if it is prepared with a reduced amount of meat or mashed potatoes. I advise you to prepare it by respecting roughly the quantity of ingredients indicated here. It can be considered, in principle, a real single dish: a potage to start, a salad, and - to conclude - a cheese or a fruit.
