A Year Of... interesting things

Cycle 5 - North & Central America - Canadian Meat Pie (Tourtiere)

I feel I should be apologizing to any Canadians coming across this post for butchering what seems to be a delicious dish and a variation, with French influences, of the meat pies of the United Kingdom (Guinness pie - yum).

I understand it’s normally done as a proper pie - crust bottom and top - but the recipe I had uses a ramekin and crust only on top. I guess it’s healthier that way.

Tourtiere - Canadian Meat Pie

I messed it up in experimenting with the crust and instead of using pie crust like the recipe calls for, I use biscuit mix.

Because Texas.

Don’t get me wrong - it’s still delicious, but I think the biscuit mix (freedom biscuit not the Commonwealth kind) drained some of the moisture from the mix. Or maybe we’re too used with the somewhat similar-looking shepherd pie and the metric ton of gravy is contains.

Recipe

Ingredients

  • Cooking spray
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 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 pound russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/4-inch cubes
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 1/2 cups fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped fresh chives
  • 1/2 (14.1-ounce) package refrigerated pie dough
  • 1 pound ground pork

Preparation

  1. Preheat oven to 400F.
  2. Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
    Coat pan with cooking spray. Add pork to pan.
    Sprinkle pork with salt, cinnamon, red pepper, and cloves; sauté 5 minutes or until browned, stirring to crumble.
    Using a slotted spoon, remove pork from pan.
    Add oil to pan; swirl to coat.
    Add onion, carrot, celery, and potato; sauté 5 minutes.
    Add garlic, and sauté 1 minute.
    Return pork to pan.
    Stir in flour, and cook 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.
  3. Place 1 cup pork mixture into each of 6 (8-ounce) ramekins.
    Roll pie dough to an 11-inch circle.
    Cut 4 (5-inch) dough circles.
    Combine and re-roll dough scraps.
    Cut 2 (5-inch) 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 400F for 40 minutes or until golden and bubbly.

Serves 6

Note: If you don’t have ramekins, spoon the filling into a 9-inch pie plate, and top with the entire pastry.

  • calories 420;
  • fat 22.2g (sat 7.6g, mono 9.8g, poly 2g);
  • protein 17.5g;
  • carbs 36.5g;
  • fiber 2.4g;
  • cholesterol 54mg;
  • iron 1.8mg;
  • sodium 489mg;
  • calcium 45mg
So what did you think about this post? Liked it? Hated it? Thought it was stupid? Thought I was stupid? Deemed it to be informative? Found mistakes or misinformation? Want to lavish excessive praise or cast fiery insults? Contact me and have at it.