Posted by lorna-organic on Sat, Jan 26, 08 at 2:42
Cooking and baking been one of my things since I was a child. My dad walked me through my first baking project, a cake made from a mix, when I was ten. I was twelve, when I made my first apple pie, all on my own. My mom wasn't home at the time. She was astonished, when she walked in and discovered me taking a beautiful apple pie from the oven.
This recipe was given to me by a Canadian friend. It was his grandmother's recipe. It makes a lovely presentation, and is inexpensive as company fare. It is a ground pork and onion dinner pie.
TOURTIERE
Pastry (I really like this pastry)
2 cups white flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2-1 tsp. salt (depending on your taste for salt)
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/3-1/2 cup cold water
l tablespoon vinegar
Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Work in the butter and shortening with a pastry cutter. If you don't have a pastry cutter, you can use your fingers. Combine water and vinegar, then lightly stir them into the flour. Sprinkle your dough with flour, then knead it for one minute Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic, and chill for 30 minutes or more. To use, roll out each half of your dough, separately, on floured board and cut to fit the size of your pie plate. (Invert your plate over the rolled dough and cut two circles an inch larger in diameter.) I use a 9" pie plate.
Meat filling:
1-3/4s pounds ground pork
2 medium onoins, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup water
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. dry mustard
3/4s tsp. sage or savory
1/2 tsp. thyme
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg
1-1/2 tablesppons white flour
egg glaze: 1 egg white, slightly beaten with 1 tablespoon water.
Cook ground pork in a large frying pan until it loses pink color. Push meat to the side, or temporarily remove from pan, so you can saute onion and garlic. Drain off fat. Add water, salt, mustard and seasonings to combined meat, onion and garlic mixture. Cover and simmer 15-20 minutes. Sprinkle with your 1-1/2 tablespoons of flour, sift it first so it won't lump up, and simmer for about 3 minutes until mixture thickens a bit.
Fill your pastry lined pie plate with meat mixture. Cover top with your extra sheet of pastry. Flute/seal edges, cut three 1" steam slits across the top, and brush egg glaze over the top so that it will brown nicely. Bake at 400 degrees (F) for 20 minutes, until browned. Allow to cool for about ten minutes before serving.
Sometimes I add some chopped mushrooms to the mix.
