French Canadian Meat Pie Recipe
- Stovetop & Oven
French Canadian Tourtière
Tourtière is a dish that I really only have once or twice a year, but it's one of my favorite meals. It's French Canadian in origin, but tourtières are eaten all across Canada, in the northern states bordering Canada, and frankly probably all over the world since good meals know no borders and have a tendency to travel far.
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It's essentially a meat pie with pastry crust on top and bottom, but there are so many variations and different ways to make it.
This recipe is a hand-me-down recipe from my best friend's mother, who happens to be Dutch but lived in Canada for years and years. It veers from tradition in that there is tomato incorporated into the meat filling, but I like the flavor that the tomatoes add and they help to keep the filling moist. Adding breadcrumbs helps keep the filling moist as well because they absorb any excess liquid and hold it. The result is a moist, but not runny interior.
I also love this recipe for pastry, using sour cream and an egg yolk as the liquid that brings the butter and flour together rather than water. Enhancing the dough with the grated Cheddar cheese is pretty (because you see the flecks of Cheddar in the finished dough) and the sharp Cheddar seasons the pastry so nicely. The two together – the luxurious pastry and the meat filling – is a match made in heaven.
Now you might be thinking that this is all too much for you to do, but it's really not. The key is to make the components the day ahead of time. Make the meat filling on the stovetop. While the meat filling is simmering, make the pastry, wrap it in two round discs and pop it into the refrigerator. Then, transfer the filling to a container and cool it completely. Leave that in the refrigerator too. Do both of these steps the day before you want to make the tourtière. Then, when it's time to put the two together, it honestly couldn't be easier.
When I have tourtière, I serve it with a good chili sauce, some bread-and-butter pickles and a dollop of sour cream. My family also serves some Le Sieur peas (Le Sueur peas in the United States) along side. I know that is a bit odd – I don't have canned peas any other time of the year, but there's something about these peas that suits the meal. They are tender, petite, sweet peas that have a long history. The Canadian Le Sieur peas ("Le Sieur" literally translating to "mister") have been traced back to a recipe from the 17th century, but the canned peas bear no real resemblance to that recipe (read more here). The American Le Sueur peas have been around for over 100 years and come from the fertile valley of Le Sueur in Minnesota. They, and the town they are from, are named after French explorer Pierre-Charles Le Sueur. Either way, the two cans are almost identical (save the spelling) and when there's tourtière on my plate, I find them perfect and delicious.
I always have tourtière at Christmastime – usually on Christmas Eve and then leftovers (often even better) the next day. Christmas can be a busy time of year, but imagine how peaceful and relaxing it could be if your meal prep was done the day ahead of time and you just have to heat a can of peas as the side dish. Doesn't sound glamorous, but believe me… it's perfect!
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Tourtière
- Prep Time: 20 m
- Cook Time: 1 h 10 m
- Total Time: 1 h 30 m
- Servings:
8
Ingredients
Pastry
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
- 1 cup unsalted butter cut into ½-inch pieces
- ½ cup sour cream
- 1 egg yolk
Filling
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 medium onions chopped (about 2 cups)
- 2 ribs celery chopped (about 1 cup)
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1 pound ground veal or beef
- 28 ounce canned plum tomatoes juice drained and reserved and tomatoes chopped
- ¼ cup juice from canned tomatoes
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon dried savory or thyme
- ½ teaspoon salt
- pinch ground cloves
- ½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
- 1 egg lightly beaten
Instructions
- Make the pastry. Combine the flour, salt and cheese in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the butter chunks are the size of peas.
- Combine the egg yolk and sour cream in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and pulse together in the processor until you are able to shape the dough into a ball. Shape the dough into two disks, wrap them well with plastic wrap and let the pastry rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (You can even make the pastry a couple of days ahead of time.)
- Make the filling. Pre-heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the onions, celery and garlic until the vegetables are translucent, but not browned. Add the pork and veal to the pan and cook until the meats are no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat and then add the spices, tomatoes and tomato juice and simmer for 30 minutes.
- Stir in breadcrumbs and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Let the filling cool while you roll out the pastry and pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.
- Roll out each pastry disk into a circle about 12-inches in diameter. Place one in the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate, pressing the pastry up the sides of the pan and letting ½-inch hang over the edge. Brush the bottom of the pastry crust with Dijon mustard and add the cooled filling. Cover the tourtière with the second circle of pastry. Fold the edges of the top pastry under the rim of the bottom pastry crust and pinch the edges together in a decorative manner.
- Brush the tourtière with the beaten egg and decorate the top of the tourtière with any pastry scraps, brushing the decorations with more of the beaten egg as well. Transfer the tourtière to the oven and bake for 40 minutes until nicely browned.
- Serve with tomato jam, chili sauce and sour cream.
Enjoy,
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Nutrition Facts
Tourtière
Amount Per Serving
Calories 718 Calories from Fat 459
% Daily Value*
Fat 51g 78%
Saturated Fat 25g 125%
Cholesterol 206mg 69%
Sodium 698mg 29%
Potassium 680mg 19%
Carbohydrates 37g 12%
Fiber 3g 12%
Sugar 5g 6%
Protein 29g 58%
Vitamin A 1065IU 21%
Vitamin C 13.1mg 16%
Calcium 139mg 14%
Iron 4.2mg 23%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.
French Canadian Meat Pie Recipe
Source: https://bluejeanchef.com/recipes/french-canadian-tourtiere/
Posted by: fedlerguith1957.blogspot.com
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