What a nice sunny day we have in the Valley today. I am enjoying a nice snack of peaches & strawberries. The peaches are so good at this time of the year.
As some of you know I recently participated in the event: Mmm...Canada, the Savoury Edition. That was a nice event hosted by Jasmine at Confessions of a Cardamom Addict.
I decided to talk about where I was born and my memories of great dishes that I enjoyed growing up.
Tourtière was really popular with our ancestors and the tradition continue. Few restaurants still have tourtière on their menus. You will find tourtière in households that wants to preserve our heritage.
As I mentionned before every family have a different recipe. Some like to keep their recipes a secret, some like to share their recipes.
Today I am sharing my own version of tourtière & also my mother-in-law version. This is the way I like to make it with lot's of good spices. I serve it with mashed potatoes, homemade ketchup (recipe to come in the Fall) and homemade beets that my mom makes. I also like to make more then one tourtière at a time and freeze them.
My Tourtière
1 pound ground pork
1 pound ground veal
1 medium onion, chopped
1 tsp allspices
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp cinnamon
salt to taste
1 cup mashed potatoes
In heavy saucepan cook pork, veal & onions until no longer pink. Add the spices and let simmer on low heat for 15 min. You may need to add some water if it's start to stick to the saucepan. Adjust the seasoning.
In the meantime cook your potatoes. Mash them with a bit of water. Salt & pepper to taste. Add to the meat mixture.
In the meantime prepare your favorite crust. Line 2 x 9-in pie plate with pastry. Fill with meat mixture. Cover with top crust, trim, crimp edges to seal and cut steam vent. Bake in a preheated 400F oven for 15 min, then lower oven temperature to 350F and bake another 20 to 30 min. or until top is lightly browned.
Variation: I prepare the meat mixture with the mashed potatoes and 1/2 cup of celery leaves. Then I fill small buns with this mix. I then bake this in the oven for about 20 min. I serve the meat-buns with a homemade coleslaw. Delicious.
This is my mother-in-law recipe:
Mother-in-law Tourtière
