Posts Tagged ‘humble potato’

In France, this mashed potato casserole gets the fancy name of Hachis Parmentier. It’s a quick and easy dinner to prepare, yet still very typically French. And since it’s French, it comes with a wonderful story that you can entertain your family with at the dinner table.

Introducing Monsieur Parmentier

Antoine Parmentier was a Frenchman that lived during the 18th and early 19th century. A pharmacist by training, he spent many years serving in the Seven Year War, and was imprisoned in Germany. It was during this incarceration that he discovered the nutritional virtues of the potato. (The tuber had previously been brought to Europe from South America, but had spent several hundred years languishing in the vegetable garden, disdained by the people and even prohibited by the government.) When he returned from the war, it was to a nation that was starving.

It was Parmentier who saw in the humble potato the solution to France’s hunger problems. Through a long and genius marketing campaign, Parmentier single handedly changed the French peoples’ ideas about the potato, turning it into a significant food source for the starving population. Parmentier courted the French king, Louis XVI, in his efforts and even got the wife of the king, Marie Antoinette, to wear potato flowers in her hair. Parmentier was a brilliant scientist who spent his life working to improve the food quality of his nation and it is most appropriate that his name is synonymous with potatoes in French cooking.

Onto the Mashed Potato Casserole Recipe

For this recipe I recommend you use instant mashed potatoes, because that’s what makes mashed potato casserole so quick and easy to prepare. Do use a high quality instant mashed potato however — all it should have in it is potatoes. Read your labels.

The recipe here is for a fairly typical French version of Hachis Parmentier, but feel free to change the vegetables, seasoning, and even the meat in this recipe. Hachis Parmentier is extremely versatile.

Mashed Potato Casserole

• 2 onions, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 tomatoes, chopped
• 1 1/2 pounds lean ground beef
• 1 tablespoon Herbs de Provence or other herbs
• salt and pepper (to your taste)
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese
• 4 – 5 cups mashed potatoes (instant is fine)
• 3/4 cup grated cheese (gruyre, emmental, or swiss)

In a large frying pan, cook the onions and garlic in the butter and olive oil on medium heat for about 5 minutes. Stir in the tomatoes, ground beef, herbs, salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is browned thoroughly. Turn off heat and add egg yolk and Parmesan cheese, stirring to mix completely.

Spread the meat in the bottom of an lightly oiled oven proof dish (a 13 X 9 inch Pyrex dish would be perfect for the amount given in this recipe). Spread the potatoes on top of this and finish by sprinkling grated cheese on top.

Brown in 400 F oven for 15 to 20 minutes.

Makes 8 servings.

Author: Kim Steele
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Programmable Pressure Cooker

When you’re learning to speak French you are usually told that a potato is a “pomme de terre” – which literally translates as apple of the ground. When you go to the market though, it’s much more common to ask for “patates”. It’s just another one of those things that learning French in France gives you – the language that’s in use every day rather than the language of books and CDs. It’s those little nuances that you really can’t pick up any other way.

Dishes with mashed potato – what we know of in the UK as shepherd’s or cottage pie – are called “parmentier”. Quite often these are a mix of beef mince and chunks of pork sausage, which is an unusual combination if you’re used to the English dish but quite nice. It’s not refined French food, this is a peasant dish as it was in the UK. The most interesting thing about “parmentier” though is the tale about how it got it’s name.

It seems back in the 16th century the French would not eat potatoes. As far as they were concerned, potatoes were for pigs, quite literally. The French government even banned the growing of potatoes in 1748, believing they caused leprosy!

Despite the fact that the peasants were starving, and despite every country around them eating them, the French just wouldn’t have it – until Monsieur Parmentier came on the scene.

To cut a long story short, Parmentier, an army pharmacist at the time, was captured in the seven years war by the Russians. While a prisoner he was fed potatoes and saw others eating them with no ill effects. He became convinced of their benefits and on his return to France began to try to spread the word about how good the humble potato could be for people.

Still there was great resistance. No matter how poor, people still thought them pig-food or poisonous. So Parmentier hatched a plan. He planted a large field of potatoes and had the guarded by soldiers day and night. Of course human nature being what it is, the peasants thought that if it was guarded, it must be valuable – so they bribed the guards or stole the potatoes and ate them themselves!

After that, dishes with potato (usually mashed) were called “parmentier”.

The truth might be a bit less romantic, and it was probably famine which finally broke French people’s resistance, but Parmentier did spend years and years working with all levels of society getting his message across and he did plant considerable areas of land for that purpose. Anyway, why let the facts ruin such a great story? Next time you’re having your pomme de terre, or patate, remember Monsieur Parmentier!

Author: Frank English
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Duty on LCD/Plasma TV