The French make a version of shepherds pie they call it hachis parmentier. Leftover stew topped with whipped potatoes loaded with egg yolk and gruyere. Stew, potatoes and cheese. Genius.
Hachis Parmentier is like shepherd’s pie times ten
This is shepherds pie but it isn’t shepherd’s pie. It’s beef and potatoes in layers. That makes it shepherds pie. But there’s no strange vegetable layer.
And there’s no ground beef.
The sauce is luscious. And the potatoes are magic. It is hachis parmentier. That is the French word for better than shepherd’s pie.
This is good eating. Flat out wonderful. It’s so good it’s worth making stew just to make hachis parmentier.
I am not a fan of classic shepherd’s pie. It’s bland. It’s dull. Not something I ever want to eat.
I’m am also not a fan of ketchup. I like it well enough on a burger and it can be an ingredient in BBQ sauce but a bottle can last me a year.
I’m pretty much a no ketchup zone. Until I have to eat classic shepherd’s pie. Then I want it. Lots of it.
Hachis parmentier, on the other hand I can eat anytime. With a big grin on my face. Stands on it’s own. No ketchup required.
Beef stew and mashed potatoes make magic
It’s really simple. Warm your leftover stew. Thicken it with a bit of beurre manie – equal parts butter and flour worked together. Top it with mashed potatoes and cheese. Pop it in the oven. Eat.
Scale this recipe up to line up with how much stew you have left over. It’s written for one pound of stew. If you have two pounds of stew double everything. Three pounds, triple it.
This works with pretty much any wine based stew that is predominantly meat. A bit of carrot can work but potatoes – not so much. If you are looking for a really good beef stew these braised short ribs will do nicely.
Grown up shepherds pie. Hachis parmentier. Try it sometime. You need to. Once you do you’ll never look back. I bet you will wonder why you ever made shepherds pie with ground beef and peas.
hachis parmentier - grown up shepherds pie
Ingredients
For the stew
- 1 lb leftover stew beef or lamb
- chicken stock as needed
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 Tbsp flour
For the potatoes
- 1 lb mashing potatoes peeled and cubed
- 3/8 cup warm milk
- 1 Tbsp butter
- 1 egg yolk
- 4 oz gruyere cheese grated
- salt to taste
Instructions
- Raise the rack in your oven. You may need to run the broiler briefly to brown the potatoes.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350.
- Boil potatoes in well salted water.
- Warm the stew in a saucepan. Add a bit of chicken stock if it seems low on liquid. You want a bit of sauce along with the meat.
- Using a fork, mash the butter and flour together. You want this well mixed.
- Off heat, add the butter/flour mixture to the stew and stir to combine.
- Mash potatoes with 1 Tbsp of butter and the warmed milk.
- Add the egg and cheese and mix.
- Put the thickened stew in an ovenproof dish and top with mashed potato mixture.
- Smooth the potatoes then drag a fork through the potatoes to create some texture. Or you could just use a spatula to rough up the top like I did.
- Bake for about 20 minutes. Place a cookie sheet below to catch any drips.
- If you want to brown the top, broil briefly but watch carefully to make sure you don't over brown the potatoes.
- Let stand about 15 minutes and serve.
Sounds good, I will definitely try this. Regarding ketchup: I only ever used Heinz, and that was only on cheese on white bread toast. One small bottle lasted me four or five years! Then I discovered Wilkin and Sons of Tiptree tomato sauce. What a game changer, it tastes incredible! Not mainly of vinegar like other ketchups.I now look for excuses to eat it, especially on chips/French fries, though I’d never use it on Shepherd’s pie. I have even had a teaspoonful for a taste from the bottle on occasion.
Haha. I found a locally produced ketchup that I quite like as well. It’s spicy, not as sweet and really tasty. It’s a bit of a stretch to call it ketchup in the Heinz sense but it is a treat on eggs or a burger and I eat spoonfuls of it regularly as well!
Can’t say I’ve had a problem with regular cottage pie, but for years I’ve made it including carrots and garlic, with cheese on top of the buttery mashed potatoes, somit’s been more this style.
I don’t eat ketchup….
Absolutely, positively lots of ketchup on regular pate chinois / shepherd’s pie!
Haha. That’s the only thing that can save regular shepherd’s pie. No ketchup needed on this version I hope!
I’m with ya…I really detest ketchup…I don’t use it on anything! ?What I love is a Beef Stew Shepards Pie! Thanks for putting this out there …I’ve been doing this with leftover stew for years! Yours is delicious! The only difference I do is I mash the potatoes with butter, cream cheese, sour cream, salt & pepper ?Happy foodie to you!
Your way sounds really good as well. Happy foodie to you too!
o_O ketchup on shepherds pie? hahaha! 🙂 Funny but damn! this looks absolutely fantastic! That browning of the potatoe looks so crispy!! I honestly would have not thought of ever using leftover stew for shepherds pie! Thanks so much for the inspiration. 🙂
Ketchup needed only for traditional shepherd’s pie. Absolutely no reason to use ketchup with this version!
I like classic shepherd’s pie/pâté chinois. It’s the taste of childhood, so maybe it does fundamentally suck but it still hits the spot occasionally. I detest ketchup on most things but this is one of the three foods on which I consider it acceptable, the others being fries and grilled cheese sandwiches.
But I doubt I’ll be making the classic version any time soon. I made a variation on this recipe with a slightly fancy but still pretty simple pot roast. The next day I cubed the cold meat and put it back in its sauce, warmed it up, added a few similar-sized pieces of carrot (parboiled) and some sautéed button mushrooms… and forgot to thicken it, but it didn’t matter in the end. Did the potatoes as instructed. Maybe some dishes really should be just childhood memories, because this hits the same spot while also being truly delicious… and putting ketchup on it would be criminal.
Thanks for the inspiration (again)!
Glad you like it. I’m all for ketchup on regular shepherd’s pie but not so much on this dish. Any leftover stew topped with the potatoes would work well. Yours sounds great particularly good.
Ketchup on shepherd’s pie?!?!?! Lol. While I’m a skeptic on that, this grown-up shepherd’s pie sounds AMAZING. Definitely a way to kick up the fancy on something we frequently do. Definitely going to have to try it!!
Haha. Maybe I’m being too subtle. My point on the ketchup is that it’s the only way I can manage to choke down classic shepherd’s pie. Just not a fan of it at all.
This recipe was delicious and so easy to make!!
Definitely going to try some more 🙂
Thank you for trying it. I’m so glad you liked it!!!