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4.84 from 6 votes
Tourtière
Prep Time
20 mins
Cook Time
1 hr 10 mins
Total Time
1 hr 30 mins
 
Tourtière is a dish that I really only have once or twice a year, but it's one of my favorite meals. It's French Canadian in origin, but tourtières are eaten all across Canada, in the northern states bordering Canada, and frankly probably all over the world since good meals know no borders and have a tendency to travel far.
Course: Entrées
Cuisine: Canadian
Keyword: Holiday Favorites, Comfort Food, classic recipes, Entertaining Recipes, Meat Pie, Beef, Pork
Servings: 8
Calories: 718 kcal
Author: Meredith Laurence
Ingredients
Pastry
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
  • 1 cup unsalted butter cut into ½-inch pieces
  • ½ cup sour cream
  • 1 egg yolk
Filling
  • 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 medium onions chopped (about 2 cups)
  • 2 ribs celery chopped (about 1 cup)
  • 1 clove garlic minced
  • 1 pound ground pork
  • 1 pound ground veal or beef
  • 28 ounce canned plum tomatoes juice drained and reserved and tomatoes chopped
  • ¼ cup juice from canned tomatoes
  • ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¾ teaspoon dried savory or thyme
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • pinch ground cloves
  • ½ cup fresh breadcrumbs
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon Dijon mustard
  • 1 egg lightly beaten
Instructions
  1. Make the pastry. Combine the flour, salt and cheese in a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the butter chunks are the size of peas.
  2. Combine the egg yolk and sour cream in a small bowl. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and pulse together in the processor until you are able to shape the dough into a ball. Shape the dough into two disks, wrap them well with plastic wrap and let the pastry rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. (You can even make the pastry a couple of days ahead of time.)
  3. Make the filling. Pre-heat a sauté pan over medium-high heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the onions, celery and garlic until the vegetables are translucent, but not browned. Add the pork and veal to the pan and cook until the meats are no longer pink. Drain off any excess fat and then add the spices, tomatoes and tomato juice and simmer for 30 minutes.
  4. Stir in breadcrumbs and salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Let the filling cool while you roll out the pastry and pre-heat the oven to 375ºF.
  5. Roll out each pastry disk into a circle about 12-inches in diameter. Place one in the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate, pressing the pastry up the sides of the pan and letting ½-inch hang over the edge. Brush the bottom of the pastry crust with Dijon mustard and add the cooled filling. Cover the tourtière with the second circle of pastry. Fold the edges of the top pastry under the rim of the bottom pastry crust and pinch the edges together in a decorative manner.
  6. Brush the tourtière with the beaten egg and decorate the top of the tourtière with any pastry scraps, brushing the decorations with more of the beaten egg as well. Transfer the tourtière to the oven and bake for 40 minutes until nicely browned.
  7. Serve with tomato jam, chili sauce and sour cream.

Recipe Video

Recipe Notes

You can freeze the assembled tourtière before baking if desired. When you want to bake the tourtière from frozen, put it directly into the oven and bake for 2 hours at 375ºF.

Nutrition Facts
Tourtière
Amount Per Serving
Calories 718 Calories from Fat 459
% Daily Value*
Fat 51g78%
Saturated Fat 25g125%
Cholesterol 206mg69%
Sodium 698mg29%
Potassium 680mg19%
Carbohydrates 37g12%
Fiber 3g12%
Sugar 5g6%
Protein 29g58%
Vitamin A 1065IU21%
Vitamin C 13.1mg16%
Calcium 139mg14%
Iron 4.2mg23%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.