This and that: Pie

You would think that being Canadian I would have tried Tourtière

but no not never. But then I am not French Canadian.

I have to tell you a little secret.... I didn't even know really what it was.

I had to look it up and after I did I thought that it was something that I would enjoy.

Here in Upper Michigan we have something similar called pasties but without all the spices.

I went to allrecipes.com for the basis of my recipe.

I wrote down a few combinations of spices from a few of the recipes and as I was making them I decided what I wanted in my Tourtière.

Although the real Tourtière, I don't think anyways, doesn't have potatoes or carrots, I had some that were cooked and that I needed to use up. I also used leftover ground chuck roast and ground pork tenderloin tips.

So these are a combination of the pasties and Tourtière.

Tourtière made as individual pie.

Individual Tourtière Pie

1 lb ground chuck roast (approx 2 cups)

1 lb ground pork tenderloin tips (approx 2 cups)

1 1/2 cup diced carrots (cooked)

1 cup diced potatoes (cooked)

3/4 cup onions diced

1 cup mushrooms diced

1 1/2 cup water mixed with 2 maggi beef cubes

2 tsp garlic

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp clove

1/4 tsp sage

1/2 tsp thyme

1/4 tsp black pepper

1 tsp salt

pie crust - enough for one double crust pie (either homemade or bought) ~ I cheated and used bought this time
2 tsp whipping cream

Place all ingredients except pie crust and whipping cream in large pan. Cook on medium heat until sauce thickens about 1 hour.
During this time you can prepare your pie crust, as if you make your own, it need time to chill before rolling out. Here is a recipe for homemade pie crust.
Once the mixture is thickened, I set mine aside while I rolled out my pie crust. Roll out pie crust and cut them into 6 inch diameter circles. I place 6 circles into my large muffin tins and the left overs I made individual pies.
I rolled out my pie crust really thin, as I don't like lots of crust. Place the crust in the muffin tins and fill with meat mixture. I topped the meat mixture with a small piece of pie crust cut in the shape of a flower. For the individual ones I cut my 6 inch diameter circles, place maybe a 1/4 cup of meat. to one side and flipped the other side over top. I used a fork to seal the edges. Brush tops with whip cream. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 45 minutes until crust is brown. If edges gets brown to fast, cover edges with tinfoil.

* the individual meat pies that I made in the muffin tins were very hard to come out, I am thinking that it was because the crust was too thin. If you use a thicker crust it would be perfect.
* my husband loved the individual ones that were little pies as he could eat them anywhere
* I used one store bought pie crust that has 2 crust in the package to make 6 muffin pies and 3 small pies. I would reroll the leftovers.
* you could make this into one big pie, but as there is only 2 of us, I thought that I could freeze the left overs... The individual mini pies would be easier to freeze.