FFWD - hachis parmentier (a French Shepherd's Pie)

This seemed like such a warm and comforting food - and it was!! I decided to invite some friends over who are interested in my little project, and make this for them, as well as a number of other recipes: really, a retrospective of our October recipes. We began with gougeres, served with a French sparkling wine, then the starter for our dinner was Gerard's mustard tart made with fresh tomatoes, served with a simple salad. Then on to the main course! We really loved the "pie", its subtle flavors wonderful. It didn't hurt that we enjoyed a lovely Merlot from Bennet Lane Winery alongside! We finished our dinner with next week's recipe - Marie-Helene's apple cake, embellished with some dulce de leche ice cream - yum! A simple meal, well suited to a cool (for the mountains in AZ) October evening! A wonderful evening... around MY french table.

This recipe was deceptively good. Plenty of steps, but nothing difficult, or even time-consuming, except waiting for things to simmer. I made a double-batch because initially, I thought there would be 7 of us, and it was easier to just double rather than do 1.5 recipes. As it turned out, we didn't touch the 2nd pie, but it made for some wonderful leftovers, even plenty to share! 
 

my ingredients for the beef and bouillon
I did use the cube-steak as suggested, along with some fresh parsley from the garden



all of the beef ingredients, ready for their long, slow simmer

the remainder of the filling ingredients
the beef that was cooked with the aromatics, along with the sausage and tomato paste

once the beef was coarsely chopped, and the bouillon strained and set aside, it was time to brown the sausage

the filling, ready to go

it seemed like the perfect amount of juice, though I worried that it wasn't enough later, after chilling, but it was



using my new ricer (thanks Clayton!)
with the double batch (4 lbs of potatoes), it made it a lot easier to get a creamy topping



my 2 recipes all ready for the oven, a nice grating of gruyere cheese on top



serving up our wonderful hachis parmentier... a delightful meal to share



 Once again, Dorie has created a terrific recipe that was easy, flavorful and welcoming. (and yes, the leftovers were terrific!). This is something I'll definitely make again.