Quebec Traditions

I know that French Canadian tourtière is traditionally reserved for the Christmas holiday season, but it is also easily frozen and reheated for those hectic nights when you have maybe forgotten to put something out to thaw, or when you are just too busy to do much else!  Pull it out of the freezer, pop it in the oven, and in about 30-45 minutes you have a nicely spiced meat pie, ready to eat!  So, since my good friend just had her second baby, and I anticipate, from experience, things getting a bit hectic around her place, I thought I'd make a couple of pies to share with her so she'd have something in the freezer to easily pull out and cook up for dinner!  Mind you, I am keeping one of the pies, for myself, for along the same reasons!  Something easy to pull out and cook up!  (And because I think Mark would hate me, as he LOVES tourtière and is getting tired of me making things he loves to eat to give away before he can get any!) 

A French-Canadian friend of mine in Oklahoma had a great pâté brisée and tourtière recipe, and even though I think she gave it to me about 3 times, when I went to make the recipe this past Christmas, of course I couldn't find it.  So after watching the "Chuck's Day Off" Christmas special ("Chuckmas), where he made his mother's recipe, (he's from Montreal), I went onto his website and made my own version of his recipe.   I did not use his pâté brisée recipe, however, I used this recipe, doubling it to make a double crust pie.  I ended up with enough dough to make 3 crusts, and was lucky enough to have a single Tenderflake crust in the freezer, so I was able to make 2 pies.  If you want to make 2 full pies, double the recipe I have below.  I even had a little bit of extra dough left over to make some tarts!  Chuck's recipe makes enough for 6 pies, so I scaled it down, and modified it slightly, to make my 2 pies.

Pâte Brisée

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon sugar 

16 Tbsp (2 sticks) unsalted butter, very-cold, cut into cubes

6 to 8 Tbsp very cold ice water (leave some ice cubes in it)

Directions:

1. Once you have cut the butter into cubes, put it in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. The colder the better for a flakier crust.

2. Place the flour, salt, and sugar into a food processor and pulse until well combined. Add half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 times. Then add the other half of the butter cubes and pulse 6 to 8 more times until you have a mixture that is course in texture with some small butter chunks still visible. 

3. Add 3 tbsp of the ice water to the food processor bowl and pulse a couple of times. Slowly add another tbsp, pulsing after each addition, until the dough starts to clump together. You can test this by pinching some together in your fingers, if it stays together it is good.

4.  Pour the mixture onto a clean counter top, divide into 2 piles, and then press the dough from each pile together with your hands to form 2 discs (this may take some time and practice as even though it eventually stays together, it is still really crumbly at first and I find takes some time and working with the hands to get it to stick together.) Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and put in the fridge for at least an hour. (If you like, you can also freeze the dough at this point to use another time.  But since we are making tourtière here, just cooling for an hour will do.)

5.  When you are ready to make your pie, take the dough out of the fridge and place on a lightly floured surface and sprinkle some flour on top. Let it sit for 10-15 minutes to bring it back up to room temperature so it is easier to roll. 

6.  Roll out the dough to a 12 inch circle, to a thickness of about 1/8 of an inch thick. If the dough starts to stick to the counter, add a bit more flour to the surface. Place on to a 9-inch pie plate and press into the bottom of the pan.

7.  You are now ready to fill with your meat filling!

French-Canadian Tourtière

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground veal (or beef)
1 onion, finely chopped 

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
2 potatoes, grated (my food processor with shredder disk works wonders for this part)
Salt and pepper, to taste 

1 cup beef stock
1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp nutmeg 

(*I was able to find, at Loblaws, a ready made mixture of ground beef, pork and veal, at about 2 1/4 lbs total, so I used this).

Directions:

1.  In a large saucepan, soften the garlic and onions in the oil.
2.  Add the meat and continue cooking for about 15 minutes, stirring to crumble the meat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3.  Add the beef stock, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and potatoes and cook, stirring frequently, until the potatoes are soft, about 45 minutes.

4.  Cool the mixture, then put in the fridge to chill for at least 4 hours.  I cooked mine the night before, so it chilled over night until I was ready to make the pies the next day.
5.  When you are ready to make the pies, divide and spoon the cooled meat mixture into the 2 bottom crusts you already prepared in the pie plates, then cover with a second crust.  Press the edge to seal with either a fork or your fingers.  Now you can do as I did, and end at this step, wrapping the pie in plastic wrap and tin foil and putting it in the freezer, or you can continue to step 6.

6.  Brush the top with an egg wash (mixture of 1 egg and 2 tsp of water) and cut a slit in the top for ventilation.
7.  Bake at 375 degrees for 45 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown.

I'm sure you will enjoy this as much as we do.  They smell and taste fantastic!  Yes, it is a lot of work, with many steps.  But in the end, it's all worth it!  Keep in mind, you do not have to make your own pie crust.  It has taken me at least a couple of failed crusts to get it right.  The meat pies will turn out just as good if you go to the grocery store and buy a ready-made crust!