The Tourtiere is a traditional meat pie prepared in Canada during the holiday season. It’s a dish very nutritious, a slice could make you satiate. I advise you to enjoy it during the winter. The secrets to make a perfect cake are as follows: don’t work the pastry crust too much; roll out the dough to a thickness neither too thin nor too large and dose the spices properly, without excess. The filling must be juicy and not dry. You have to use a mix of lean and fat meats, for example veal and pork or bison and pork. The dough should be crisp and crumbly. Well, it takes several measures for the creation of this dish and I think the main difficulty consists in the preparation of the crust, but I guarantee you that it is a delicacy to be tasted absolutely!
Serves: 4
Ingredients
For the dough:
- 340grams all-purpose flour
- 30mlwater
- 1beaten egg
- 220g cold butter
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
Method
In a blender put the flour, the butter (cut into little pieces) and the salt. Blend for a few seconds: you have to obtain a granular compound. Place the flour on a work surface and make a well in the center (it’s better to use a marble surface, in fact this material is “cool” so it doesn’t heat the dough further). Then in the center place the beaten egg and start to knead. Pour the water gradually. You don’t have to work the dough hard. Flat the ready mixture, cover with baking paper and let rest in refrigerator for 1 hour at least. Then take it and knead it a little again, to make sure that the butter warms up: the dough can be rolled out easy thus. You have to obtain two crust-pie whose diameter is greater than that one of the baking tin, because the edges shall be folded and they have to contain the filling perfectly.
For the filling:
- 220 grams potatoes
- 150gramsminced veal
- 150gminced pork
- 1carrot
- 1medium red onion
- 2 diced cloves garlic
- few tablespoonsof vegetable broth
- salt
- black pepper
- 1pinch ofcinnamon
- nutmeg to taste
- some leaves of rosemary and sage
- extra virgin olive oil
Method
Clean and peel the potatoes. They have to boil in salted water for about 5 minutes. Then drain and mash. Peel the carrot and dice it, the cubes haven’t to be too big. In a pan heat two tablespoons of olive oil, after add the two types of meat; let them cook for a few minutes and add in onion, garlic and carrot. Stir well and season with salt, pepper, spices and then add sage and rosemary. Cook the filling until the vegetables are tender but sometimes remember to add a few tablespoons of vegetable broth. Then turn off the heat and mix it with the mashed potatoes, stir thoroughly and allow to cool.
Assembly
Grease a 20cm diameter round baking dish .Roll out the first layer of dough (with a thickness of 3-4mm) and scrape out the edges. Prick the bottom with a fork. Put the filling, level and cut the edges of the dough. Cover with top pastry, pressing edges together to seal. Trim and flute pastry edge. Made cuts on the top surface and cut decorative shapes from remaining pastry and arrange on the top. Combine an egg and a bit of milk, brush over pastry. Bake at 200 Celsius degrees for the first 15 minutes, then lower the temperature of the oven to 180 ° C for the remaining 10 minutes. Serve hot or warm