Hachis parmentier is a French dish made with mashed or grated potatoes, meat, and vegetables. It is often served with a lyonnaise sauce and can be presented in a potato shell or with a compact round of mashed potatoes on top. Leftovers can be used to make this versatile dish.
Hachis parmentier is a traditional French dish. This concoction commonly involves the use of mashed or grated potatoes in a unique presentation that some cooks have compared to cottage pie or shepherd’s pie, with some recipes originating in the UK. Other main ingredients include chunks of meat and vegetables.
The sauce that is most often used in this French “potato hash” is a lyonnaise sauce, a wine-based, heavily flavored sauce. This sauce is made from white wine, vinegar, and onions or other similar ingredients. The sauce most often accompanies the meat portion of the dish.
In many cases, hachis parmentier is served in a potato shell. Other versions of the dish are made with a compact round or square portion of mashed potatoes on top of the dish and a meat component underneath. Many of these are topped with spring onions, greens or other side dishes.
The typical vegetable ingredients of hachis parmentier are similar to those of a variety of traditional soups. Celery, carrots and onions will often be part of this dish. Garlic is used frequently to give even more flavor to the dish.
In terms of spices for hachis parmentier, many cooks just use salt and pepper to flavor the dish. Some may use a bay leaf or other aromatics such as rosemary, oregano, sage or parsley. Modern versions of this dish might include even more exotic spice components designed to work harmoniously with other aspects of the dish.
Common varieties of hachis parmentier include braised beef. Some might also include pork sausage or a similar processed meat ingredient. Beef broth is often used in the sauce or, in thickened form, to bind the dish together.
The traditional presentations of hachis parmentier offer flexibility for those who want to fit this dish into a menu for a more cosmopolitan or modern crowd. The “cut out” look of the portions of this dish indicates that any type of cooking container could be used to shape portions or batches in different ways, which can have a dramatic effect on how these dishes are perceived by diners. Many of these meals are cooked in cake tins or similar rounded containers, or in rectangular pans, where specific portions are cut and plated. Others are served in small round single-serving dishes.
Hachis parmentier is essentially a recipe that many have used to serve up leftovers from other dishes. The classic French dish of beef and carrots, or a beef stew or roast, can lead the cook to turn leftovers into hachis parmentier. Anything with a heavy meat component can provide the basic ingredients for this versatile meat-and-potato feast.
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