"Pourquoi tu ne nous ferais pas du hachis?" ("Why don't you cook us hachis?") my aunt asked me yesterday night as we were looking for an idea for saturday lunch. I thought that was a good idea. 

I love cooking hachis. It's one of those dishes that can be cooked either very quickly when you're in a hurry and don't know what to do with the leftovers of a beaf stew or very slowly when you have plenty of time on front of you. But whichever solution you pick, hachis always conveys the same feelings to me : a feeling of warmth and comfort. 

The second great advantage of hachis is that it is a family dish. Chances that kids don't like it are slim and grown ups often appreciate it. 

The third advantage of hachis when you live abroad is that it's quite simple to cook and yet, so french! It always makes quite an impression on your guests, even though you live in France. It's all a question of adding the right herbs and spices. 

So I cooked my hachis on Saturday morning and we ate it. All together. And we finished our meal with a cup of coffee or tea and a cherry flavoured cookie. 

Then we spent our afternoon doing our own business. As for me, it was mainly work, work and work since studying law means a great part of personal work. But I'm happy since I managed to cook and share my recipe with you. I hope you all enjoy it ;-)

You will need :

- 2 pounds beaf meat

- 6 carrots

- 2 tomatoes

- 3 tablespoons white wine

- 1 tablespoon mustard

- Parsil and Thyme according to your taste

- 3 coriander seeds

- 4 Table spoons tomatoe sauce

- A glass of water

- 1 big red oignon

- 2 pounds potatoes

- 40 cL milk

- A bit of butter

1. Peal and cut the potatoes in cubes. Put them in a stew full of cold water and cook them for about 30 minutes.

2. In the meantime, cut the oignon in tiny pieces and heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan. Sweat the oignon for about three minutes. Set aside. 

3. Peal and cut the carrots and the tomatoes in tiny dices and pour them in the frying pan. Add the meat, the wine, the herbs, the coriander, the mustard and the water and cook for half an hour. It's best to wait until the carrots are melting and the ingredients have absorbed all the liquid. 

4. Place this mixture in the bowl of a food processor, chop it and set aside. 

5. When the potatoes are cooked, puree them and add the milk, some salt and pepper until it matches your taste. 

6. Preheat the oven at 350°F. 

7. Butter a large dish (or individual ones) and add a layer of meat. Top with the mashed potatoes. Sprinkle with nutmeg and red peppercorns. Add a few pieces of butter on top and cook in the oven for 35 minutes before placing under the broil for 5 more minutes. Serve warm with a green salad.

This is it. Fall has arrived and with it, the grey skies. Rain is pouring and the wind is announcing winter. But the beautiful red and yellow leaves falling on the ground or flying across the streets of my hometown make it beautiful to watch. Definitely, I love fall, even though it's not as beautiful as it is in America, especially on the East coast. 

But, still, it's beautiful. And appeasing. After the back to school rush and stress, it feels good to have this cold weather to keep us home a bit. I like studying in front of my window and listening to the wind blowing outside. It feels good to drink a hot cup of tea or chocolate while working on a school paper. 

Even though I'm more and more busy, I still try to keep a little time to cook and shoot. Last week, I cooked a very french "hâchis parmentier" with homemade mashed potatoes. It was just delicious and felt so good on a cold sunday. However, I shouldn't forget to talk about the beautiful days fall offers us. Indeed, french fall is not all about rain, sadness and cold weather. It's also about surprising hot days. On these days, the sun is shinning bright and the paths which were wet yesterday dry on the next day. In the meantime, they reflect the stunning hot colours of the season. Fall is the season when you can cook according to your wish : either you choose a cold or a hot dish, chances that it doesn't fit the daily weather are slim.

So in the end, I wanted to share with you my recipe of french Pim's. These little cakes are easy as pie to cook and yet, delicious. In France, we often buy them and you can find many flavours: orange, raspberry, cherry… My aunt buys some every week. But one week, she forgot to buy some. And my cousin was quite disappointed. So I decided to try to bake some. I chose to stuff them with apricot jam but whichever jam you choose, it will be good. It's all a question of taste. 

But I won't let you wait any longer dear reader. Here is the recipe of the french Pim's.

For the spongecake: 

5.3 ounces flour

5.3 ounces sugar

4 eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

Stuffing:

Jam (homemade if possible)

Topping:

Dark Chocolate

Preheat the oven at 350 °F (or 180 °C).

Lubricate and flour a springform pan.

Separate the eggs. Keep the egg yolks in a bowl and pour the egg whites in a  mixing bowl. 

Use a whisk to whip up the egg whites. Once they are firm, whisk in the sugar. Don't stop whisking and add the egg yolks to the dough and then the flour and the baking powder. Keep whisking for a few more minutes.

Pour the spongecake dough in the springform pan and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. 

Once the spongecake is ready, remove it form the tin and let it cool on a baking grill. 

Cut some small circles in the spongecakes. 

In a saucepan, heat the dark chocolate with a bit of milk. Stir it until it has completely melted.

Spread some jam on top of the circles and cover them with dark chocolate. Set the Pim's in the fridge until the chocolate becomes a bit hard and crunchy.