Tourtière (Meat Pie)

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If you want a meat pie after you have worked all day, frozen puff pastry sheets are your best friend. I came home, took one sheet out of the freezer and set it on the counter. By the time the filling was ready, the pastry had thawed perfectly, and within 5 minutes the pies were in the oven. I saw this recipe in Cooking Light, and it called for refrigerated pie crust – but I couldn’t do that to these pies – they deserved better – so I substituted the puff pastry for the crust.

  • 6

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 1 pound extra lean ground pork
  • 1 teaspoon salt, divided
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground red pepper
  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 cup finely chopped onion
  • 1/2 cup finely chopped carrot
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped celery
  • 1 (1-pound) russet potato, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
  • 1 sheet frozen puffed pastry, thawed according to package

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 400°.

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat, and coat pan with cooking spray. Add ground beef to pan. Sprinkle beef with 1/2 teaspoon salt, cinnamon, 1/8 teaspoon red pepper, and cloves; sauté for 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble. Using a slotted spoon, remove beef from pan. Add olive oil to pan, and swirl to coat. Add 1 cup onion, carrot, celery, and potato; sauté for 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Add garlic, and sauté for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Return beef to pan. Stir in flour, and cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add broth, scraping pan to loosen browned bits; bring to a boil. Cook 2 minutes or until slightly thick. Remove from heat; stir in chives.

Place 1 cup pork mixture into each of 6 (8-ounce) ramekins. Take puffed pastry and cut 6 (5-inch) dough circles. Place 1 dough circle on each ramekin, tucking edges inside. Cut an X in the top of each circle; coat lightly with cooking spray. Place ramekins on a baking sheet. Bake at 400° for 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly.