Tourtière (French-Canadian Meat Pie)
By norsegal8
This is a dish Sue Gray's husband, Mike, a Rhode Island native, longs for every time the snow starts flying. It was a wintertime staple during his childhood, often eaten with ketchup or tomato chutney and a green salad. While Rhode Island isn't too close to Canada (and even farther from France), Mike's hometown of Lincoln is just down the road from Woonsocket -- a city with a large French-Canadian population.
Sue has experimented with this recipe over the years, adding more vegetables; each new version still yields kudos from her husband. The traditional version uses ground pork for the meat in the filling.
Feel free to use your favorite double-crust pie recipe, or try the hot-water one that follows. It's not a flaky crust, but it's very tender and easy to work with.
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Ingredients
- Crust
- 3/4 cup (6 ounces) lard or 3/4 cup (4 3/4 ounces) vegetable shortening
- 1/3 cup (2 5/8 ounces) boiling water
- 2 1/4 cups (9 1/2 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Filling
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (16 ounces) water
- 2 1/2 cups peeled potato, cut into 1/2-inch dice (12 to 14 ounces, 1 large potato)
- 1/2 pound ground beef*
- 1/2 pound ground pork*
- 1 cup chopped onion (4 to 5 ounces, 1 large onion)
- 1 cup chopped celery (3 to 4 ounces, 1 to 2 stalks celery)
- 2 cloves garlic (more to taste), peeled and minced
- 1/4 teaspoon ground clove
- 1 teaspoon ground thyme
- 1/2 teaspoon ground sage
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
Details
Servings 10
Preparation
Step 1
Pastry: Place the lard or shortening in a bowl. Add the boiling water, then stir well to melt the fat. Add the flour, baking powder and salt, and mix with a spoon or electric mixer to make a smooth dough. Scrape half of the dough out of the bowl onto a piece of plastic wrap, form it into a disk, and wrap well. Repeat with the remaining dough, and refrigerate both dough disks while preparing the filling.
Filling: Put the salt, water and potato in a medium saucepan, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Boil until the potatoes are fork-tender, then drain them, saving the water.
In a large frying pan, brown the meat, draining off any excess fat when finished. Add the onion, celery, garlic, spices and potato water to the meat. Bring it to a boil, then lower the heat to simmer. Stirring occasionally, continue simmering the mixture for 30 minutes or longer, until the liquid has evaporated and the vegetables are tender.
Mash about half of the potato chunks, and add them to the meat. Gently stir in the remaining chunks of potato. Remove the mixture from the heat and let it cool to room temperature.
Assembly: Take one piece of dough out of the refrigerator, unwrap it, and dust both sides with flour. Roll it out to about 1/4-inch thick (or less if you prefer a thinner crust). Line a 9-inch pie pan with the dough, and fill it with the cooled meat mixture. Roll out the remaining dough disk, and place it over the filling. Trim the excess from the dough and crimp the edges together with a fork or your fingers.
Baking: Bake the pie in a preheated 450°F oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the oven heat to 350°F, and bake for an additional 30 minutes, or until the pie is golden brown. Let the pie cool for 15 minutes or so to set up before slicing. Yield: 1 pie, 10 servings.
Nutrition information per serving (1/10 of pie, 212g): 415 cal, 26g fat, 13g protein, 30g complex carbohydrates, 2g dietary fiber, 55mg cholesterol, 440mg sodium, 396mg potassium, 3RE vitamin A, 7mg vitamin C, 3mg iron, 64mg calcium, 149mg phosphorus.
Pepper Steak Pie Filling
This non-traditional filling is just as popular in the Gray household.
1 pound ground or cubed beef
1 1/2 cups thinly sliced onions (6 to 8 ounces, 1 1/2 medium onions)
3 cups (8 ounces) sliced mushrooms
2 large (about 10 to 12 ounces, raw weight) green or red peppers
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) cubed or grated Swiss cheese
Prepare pastry as directed on the previous page, and chill it while you make the filling. Brown the meat, then drain off the fat. Add the vegetables and cook until most of the moisture has evaporated, about 5 to 10 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper. Cool the mixture to lukewarm, then stir in the cheese. Follow assembly and preceding baking instructions. Yield: 1 pie, 10 servings.
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