Tourtière Canadienne

Makes: Two 9-inch pies

Chef Deb Poulin shared her Mère Poulin’s Métis recipe for Tourtière Canadienne and it got me thinking about my Robicheau family’s Acadian French background. When my grandfather left Meteghan, Nova Scotia, to find work across the Bay of Fundy in New Brunswick during the Depression, he stopped speak.ing French. But the culture is prominent enough that tourtière is still part of our Christmas traditions. For many years, my mom came to Alberta and made dozens of these savoury meat pies for my friends and me to enjoy over the holidays.

INGREDIENTS

For the pie crust

4 level cups ﬂour, plus more for rolling
½ teaspoon baking powder ¼ teaspoon salt
1 lb chilled shortening
2 cups ice water
1 egg, for egg wash (optional)
1 Tablespoon milk (any type), for egg wash (optional)

For the filling

3 or 4 yellow-ﬂeshed potatoes
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 cup diced onion
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
2⁄3 cup water
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground cloves
½ teaspoon celery salt
½ teaspoon dried summer savory
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon white pepper
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

NOTE: When it comes to shortening, I generally use regular Crisco when making tourtière pastry but if I’m making fruit pies, I’ll often switch it up to 1 cup shortening and 1 cup butter.

MULTIPLY AND/OR MAKE AHEAD: This recipe multiplies well. Uncooked tourtières can be frozen for up to 3 months. Cook from frozen at 375°F for 60 to 90 minutes.

RECIPE

For the pie crust

Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Blend the shortening into the flour mixture with a pastry blender until it resembles coarse pea-sized lumps. Form a well in the centre and set aside.
Use the 2 cups of ice water to pour exactly 250 ml into a measuring cup. Be sure you measure out 250 ml and not just 1 cup, as 250 ml is slightly more. Pour this water into the well you made in the flour mixture and stir with a metal slotted spoon until it comes together as a dough.
Use a dinner knife to compress and shape the dough into a mound in the bowl.
Let the dough rest in the bowl, covered, in the refrigerator for at least 10 minutes or until the filling is ready (up to 24 hours).

For the filling

Peel and quarter the potatoes, place them in a saucepan of cold salted water, and bring to a boil on high heat. Once the water is boiling, reduce the heat to a low boil and cook the potatoes until a knife pierces them with ease. Drain and reserve the water. Use enough of the hot potato water to mash the potatoes and remove any lumps. Set them aside to cool. Meanwhile, you can start mak.ing the rest of the filling.
Heat a large frying pan on medium heat. Add the oil and onions and cook the onions until they turn translucent.
Stir in the ground beef, pork, and water and cook until browned, using a wooden spoon to break the meat into fine crumbs. This could take 10 to 15 minutes.
Drain off any excess oil and place the meat and onion mixture back in the pan.
Stir in the cinnamon, cloves, celery salt, summer savory, salt, and both peppers until well distributed.
Mix in the mashed potatoes, remove from the heat, taste and adjust the seasoning as desired, and cool the mixture to at least room temperature.

For assembly

Get the dough out of the refrigerator. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Cut the dough into 4 unequal pieces. You want 2 slightly larger portions for the bottom crusts.
Choose a bottom portion and use your hands to shape it into a disc.
Flour a flat surface and roll your rolling pin through the flour.
Place the disc on the floured surface and begin to roll it out, pressing lightly with the rolling pin from the centre out. Use very light pressure and move the rolling pin around to keep the dough forming a round shape.
Lift the dough as necessary and sprinkle the surface with more flour to keep the dough from sticking. When you reach the diameter of the pie plate you are using, fold the dough over your rolling pin and transfer it to the bottom of one of your pie plates.
Add half the filling, roll out a top crust using the same technique described above, and then crimp the 2 crusts together by folding the top over the bottom and pinching the dough lightly between the thumbs and forefingers of each hand as you go around the diameter of the pie.
Repeat with the remaining ingredients.
Cut vents in the top of each pie and, if you like, brush them with an egg wash of 1 egg whisked with 1 Tablespoon milk.
Bake until golden, about 45 minutes.

VARIATION: You can use this pie crust recipe for fruit and berry pies. Just fill the base of the pie with fruit until it is mounded and add a mixture of 1 cup sugar, 3 Tablespoons flour, and a few drops of fresh or bottled lemon juice. Depending on the sweetness of the fruit in your pie, you may need a little more or less than the 1 cup of sugar.

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