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.

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