Ever since I’ve been back from Quebec, I’ve been on a little bit of a kick to find more French Canadian foods that I like. I wanted to make a tourtiere, which I have done before with mixed results and when doing research, I found there are about as many recipes for tourtiere as there are people in the entire province of Quebec, so I just went with my own. The one pictured is actually only a half-recipe one because I am a singleton. The recipe is for a full-sized one though. My flavor profile is traditional meat-pie filling with ground beef and some veg and gravy, and the spices lean to the pepper and paprika side of things. I did find some recipes with cinnamon and clove but that isn’t my thing for meat pies. Happy with the result and *really* happy on how flaky the crust came out.
Ingredients
for the pastry
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cracked black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cold
3 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3-6 tablespoons ice cold water
for the gravy part of the filling
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons water
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
10 oz low sodium beef broth
5 oz low sodium chicken broth
Salt and Pepper, to taste
for the meat and potatoes part of the filling
1 tablespoon butter
1 large yellow onion, finely diced
2 carrots, finely diced
2 medium russet potatoes, finely diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
Directions
Prepare your crust: In a bowl, combine the flour, salt and pepper. Cut in the butter and shortening, blending until the mixture resembles coarse sand (with some larger pieces of butter). Add in three tablespoons of the ice water, using a fork to mix the dough together. Add more water, one tablespoon at a time, just until the dough comes together in a slightly crumbly ball. Turn the dough out to a lightly floured surface. Use your hands to shape the dough into a flattened disc. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours (up to 24 hours).
Next, prepare your gravy. This will be combined with the meat and potatoes filling before filling the pie. In a small bowl, dissolve the cornstarch in the water to make a slurry and set aside. In a large saucepan, melt the butter. Add the flour and cook, stirring regularly, for about 5 minutes, until the mixture turns golden brown. Add the beef and chicken broth and bring to a boil, stirring with a whisk. Stir in about half of the cornstarch mixture and simmer for a minute or so. If you’d like your gravy thicker, add a more of the cornstarch mixture, in small increments, as needed, to thicken. Season with pepper. Taste and add additional salt, if necessary, to taste. Set aside until the remainder of the filling is ready.
Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add butter, onion, carrot and potatoes; cook, stirring occasionally until onion starts to brown, about 12 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until just fragrant. Remove to a work bowl and cover with foil to keep warm. Add the beef mince to the pan; cook and stir, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon until fully cooked, about 8 minutes. Add beef broth; cook, stirring to pull up all the fond in the pan until most of the liquid evaporates, about 10 minutes. Stir in parsley, then add in the veggie mixture. Add in the gravy a little at a time and combine well. The combined filling should be quite thick and not too liquidy. Set aside to cool to room-ish temperature
Preheat oven to 425F. Spray a pie shell with baking spray.
Divide your dough in half and roll out both halves, lining your pie shell with the first. Spoon meat mixture into the pie and cover with second pastry. Using the ends of a fork, crimp edges of pie shells together to seal. Brush with cream and cut 3 steam vents with a small knife.
Bake at 425F for 20 minutes, then reduce heat to 350F and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
