Christmas Tourtiere's 2013

  

 

When I was growing up it was a Christmas Tradition each year for my mother to make Tourtiere.    My father is French Canadian and the Tourtiere was a tradition in his family.  Tourtiere is a type of a meat pie which is served in French Canada during the Christmas Holidays, normally on Christmas Eve during their Reveillon celebrations, which last pretty much all night.  My father is from the Saugenay Lac St Jean region of Quebec.

My mother was English however and staying up all night was not an option in our home.   Neither was meat pie on Christmas Day, and so we always had it on Boxing Day.  Truth be known  it was a very important part of our Christmas holiday celebrations no matter when we ate it and it was something all of us looked forward to each year.



I do believe that there are as many recipes for Tourtiere as there are families that eat it.  Some opt to use finely chopped meat . . . pork, or veal . . . and others use ground meat, sometimes just pork, and often a combination of pork and beef.  My mother always used just beef.  I like to use pork and beef.  My ex sister in law always used chopped pork shoulder.  (She was Acadian French.)

 

Some use dried bread crumbs to absorbe some of the moisture from their filling.  Some use grated raw potato cooked in with the meat.  Some grate cooked potato into the filling . . . I like to use dried potato flakes because you don't get any lumps of potato, but it thickens the filling nicely.



All will have finely chopped onions and ground cloves.   Garlic, savory, thyme, etc. . . . these are optional.  I do use them, but my mother only used the savory along with the onion and cloves.  I also add a few chopped celery leaves and some parsley.  It changes each year.  I keep fiddling with it a bit here and a bit there in my quest for the perfect Tourtiere.  I think my sister always makes the best ones, but alas . . . she is 2,000 miles away, so mine will just have to do.  The Toddster isn't complaining!

*Tourtiere 2013*

makes two nine inch pies
Printable Recipe

I have been working at finding the perfect tourtiere my whole life.  Tourtiere is a French Canadian meat pie which is generally served at Christmas.  I grew up with them.  My sister makes the best ones ever.  This one comes close.

For the pastry: (make this recipe twice, don't double)

200g plain flour (2 cups)

3/4 tsp table salt

75g of butter (1/3 cup)

73g of lard (1/3 cup)

5 to 6 TBS of ice water

one egg yolk beaten with a bit of water to glaze

For the filling:

1 pound extra lean ground pork

1 pound extra lean ground steak

2 small onions, peeled and finely chopped

2 small cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

salt and black pepper to taste

finely chopped parsley and celery leaves to taste

1 tsp savory

1/2 tsp ground cloves

1 cup boiling water or chicken stock

3 TBS instant potato flakes

First make the filling.   Place the meats in a large pot along with the onions, garlic, parsley, celery, savory, cloves and some seasoning.   Mix with your hands.  Add the boiling water/stock.  (It should be just barely covered)  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat is cooked through and is no longer pink.  Simmer for about half an hour.  Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.  Stir in the potato flakes.  Set aside to cool.

Make the pastry. (You will need to do the pastry recipe twice for the best results.)  Sift the flour into a bowl and whisk in the salt.  Cut the fats into bits and drop in.   Cut them in until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs with a pastry blender.   Add the ice water a bit at a time, using a fork to blend until you have a pastry that comes together.  Just use as much water as you need to do this.  You may need more or less, depending on the weather.    Shape the pastry into two round flat discs, wrap  in cling film and chill for half an hour.  Repeat.

Roll two of the pastry discs into a round large enough to fit into each of two nine-inch pie tins with an overhang.  Divide the cooled filling between each crust.  Roll out the two remaining discs to cover the tops with an overhang.  Wet the edges of the bottom crust and place the top crusts over each.   Seal and trim.  Cut out a steam vent in the centre of each pie.  Roll out the scraps if desired and use to decorate the tops.  Brush with the beaten egg yolk to glaze.

Preheat the oven to 220*C/425*F/ gas mark 7.  Place the two pies on a large baking try and bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for 15 minutes.  Reduce the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and bake for a further 30 to 35 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and crisp on the bottom.



I did a little one for Todd so you could see how flakey that pastry is and what the filling looks like.  He really enjoys this each year, and of course he doesn't have to watch his waistline!



(My sister's pies this year!  Yes we both like to take photos of what we cook and eat!  It must run in the family!)

Note:  If you only want to make one pie, just cut all the ingredients for the filling in half.  Or make the full batch and freeze half of it for another time.   You can also bake this in individual pies.  My sister does and uses canning jar lids for the pans.  Works perfectly!

Pumpkin Crumb Pie

 

The Toddster and I had a pretty in depth conversation the other night about pumpkin.  He thought pumpkin was a very bland recipe.   I had made a delicious pumpkin pie for dessert when we had the missionary elders over and we were talking about pumpkin.

He hadn't realized that the pumpkins which are normally used for pumpkin pies are the smaller sugar pumpkin variety.  I know some people use the larger ones and that's ok . . . but if you want a really great pumpkin pie you want to use a sugar pumpkin.  They are lovely and sweet, and I don't think you could call them bland at all!



I have always found the larger pumpkins to be lacking in flavour in comparison and their texture is not quite the same.  I do like them roasted though . . . as with any of the autumn vegetables, roasting brings out a lot of the natural sweetness.  I just roast them with a bit of olive oil, salt, pepper and garlic.



Anyhoo . . . this pie I am showing you here today went down a real treat with the missionaries (and with the Toddster),  It's a bit different than your usual pumpkin pie in that it has an oatmeal cookie crust and a buttery crumble topping.



It's nicely spiced and that buttery cookie crust is to die for.   I guess it is somewhat like an  big fat round oatmeal cookie stuffed with spicy creamy pumpkin . . .  and what's not to like about that???

 

It is absolutely stunning cut into wedges and served with a nice dollop of lightly sweetened whipped double cream on top . . . or served still slightly warm, topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream . . . and yes, lashings of custard would go down a real treat as well.  I hope you will give it a try and when you do you will come back and tell me how much you enjoyed it!  Coz I just know you will.  It's a cert!

 

*Pumpkin Crumb Pie*

Serves 6

Printable Recipe 

Something a little bit different.  It smells gorgeous when it is baking!  Tastes even better if possible.  We like this more than ordinary pumpkin pie.

175g of plain flour (1 1/4 cups)

100g of old fashioned oats (1 1/4 cups)

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

95g of granulated sugar (1/2 cup)

100g soft light brown sugar (1/2 cup packed)

172g unsalted butter, melted (3/4 cup)

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

For the filling:

50g of granulated sugar (1/4 cup)

50g of soft light brown sugar (1/4 cup packed)

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

pinch ground cloves

1/4 tsp salt

1 large free range egg

1 large free range egg yolk

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
85ml evaporated milk or single cream (1/3 cup)

225g of pureed pumpkin (1 1/4 cups)  

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.  Have ready a nine inch round deep pie tin.  (alternately you can use an 8 inch square pan)

Whisk the flour, oats, salt and bicarbonate of soda together in a bowl.   Tip in both sugars and rub together a bit with your fingers so that no lumps remain.   Whisk the melted butter and vanilla together and then stir this into the flour mixture, mixing well with a fork.   Measure half of it out and press into the pie tin, going partially up the sides.   Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes.

While the bottom crust is baking, whisk together all of the filling ingredients until smooth.  Remove the bottom crust from the oven and pour this mixture over top.  Return to the oven and bake for 15 minutes. 

Remove from the oven and crumble the remaining crumb mixture evenly over top, breaking it into small bits.  Return to the oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes longer, until the crust is golden on top and the centre jiggles slightly.  Allow to stand at room temperature for an hour, after which you can chill it in the refrigerator for one hour or longer.    Cut into wedges and serve with whipped cream and a light dusting of cinnamon.  Alternately you can serve it warm like a crumble, spooned out with some vanilla ice cream or lashings of custard.   Delicious!

Note:  If you bake in an 8 inch square pan you can cut into squares to serve and you will get approximately 4 decent sized servings, or 8 smaller ones..