Prairie Kitchens - Tourtiere

Some wag has just pointed out that Christmas is less than six months away. So, rather than cry in your BBQ, start perfecting this time-honoured Fransaskois Christmas favourite: tourtière.

Tourtière is a meat pie that came with settlers from Quebec and the Maritimes, where in olden times it was everyday fare. Here in Saskatchewan, the tourtière of old has been kept alive by women such as Rita Marchand of Vonda, whose family gets together in advance of Christmas to make as many as 100 pies, enough to freeze, share and bake for special dinners throughout the holiday season.

They use a recipe passed on by Mémère (Grandma) Lucienne Marchand, whose family moved from Quebec to Prud'homme in 1909. According to the family history, "Having lost her mother in 1908, she started making meals and (doing) household duties at a very young age." She was not yet 10.

According to Settling Saskatchewan by Alan Anderson, there were 32 French-speaking settlements in the province, some created by Métis and others by newcomers from Quebec, the Maritimes, France, Belgium and Switzerland. Between 1901 and 1921, the French-speaking population jumped from 2,600 to 42,000.

As with so many time-honoured recipes, there are many versions of tourtière. For 100 pies, the Marchand family starts with 60 lbs of meat. This recipe is pared down for one pie and is found in Saveurs et Savoirs 2, a tribute to the Francophone community of Saskatchewan.

Tourtière
1 lb ground pork
1 lb ground beef
1 clove chopped garlic
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/2 cup beef broth
1/2 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp celery salt
a pinch of cloves
1/4 tsp sage
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 cup mashed potatoes
pastry for a two-crust pie

Cook all the ingredients together except the potatoes, which are added at the end of cooking. Place the mixture in a pie shell, cover with the top crust (cutting vents in the top pastry) and bake in a 375F oven for 40–45 minutes.

Do you have a cherished recipe that came to Saskatchewan from somewhere else? Tell me at!

(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)

Prairie Kitchens - Tourtiere

My first tourtiere, that famous meat pie brought to Saskatchewan by settlers from French Canada. Curious, do you have tourtiere in your family tradition?

I used the recipe of the Marchand family of Bellevue, which was included in a new booklet on the history and flavours of that francophone region of Saskatchewan. Every year, mother and daughters get together and bake as many as 100 tourtieres for the Christmas season!

Download the booklet Saveurs et Savoirs 2. The recipe for tourtiere is on page 66-67.

Prairie Kitchens - Butter Tarts

Settlers in Saskatchewan brought a lot of recipes with them from the Old Country, but not butter tarts. Food historians agree this holiday favourite is a Canadian invention. Some speculate it may be an offshoot of Quebec's sugar pie or the Scottish Border Tart. However, those confections are baked in a pie plate, while butter tarts are always the size of, well, tarts.

While establishing its Canadian origin, the experts can't agree on the recipe. There are many variations on the "authentic" butter tart. Raisins or currants? Nuts or no nuts? Walnuts or pecans? Custardy or runny? A bit of vanilla or a bit of rum?

It goes without saying that my Grandma O'Hara made the best butter tarts ever, bless her soul, and no Christmas dinner was without them. Sadly, I no longer have her recipe. Coming close is the butter tart made by Linda Boyle, who uses an old recipe from her mom. It was one of the tops picks in the recent Saskatoon Farmers' Market butter tart contest, for which I was a lucky judge.

Linda and her mother, Audrey, made 300 butter tarts every Christmas, freezing most of them in ice cream pails which Audrey pulled out during the year and took to work at a local construction company to share the "love" with the guys. One thing Linda and I agree on (as do many of you, I'm sure) is that gooey frozen butter tarts are the best of all.

Audrey Dunkinson's Butter Tarts
(make pastry here.)
3 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup water
4 eggs
1 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped pecans
24 tart shells

Place sugar, butter, vanilla and water in a saucepan and heat until melted. Meanwhile, beat the eggs. Stir 1 cup of melted butter mixture into the eggs, to warm the eggs, then pour back into the saucepan. Heat and stir until combined.

Place 8-10 raisins and 1/2 tsp pecans in each tart shell. Pour in the filling, to about half full. Bake at 375F for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry is nicely brown.

(This article first appeared in the Saskatoon Star Phoenix.)

Pie Pastry

I learned to make pastry from my mother-in-law, Alma. She learned from her mother, who made pies at a little cafe in Harvard, Illinois. A young man came to the cafe often for the pie and fell in love with the pie maker's daughter. Alma is gone now, but I still remember her soft white hands delicately crimping the edge of a beautiful pie.

As Alma taught me, technique is important. The butter, lard and eggs must be at fridge temperature and worked swiftly so they don’t warm up. Always refrigerate the dough at least an hour before rolling.

Pie Pastry
3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup lard
1 tbsp white vinegar
1/2 cup ice water

Fill a cup with water and drop in a couple of ice cubes.

Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Cut cold butter and lard into pieces, dropping them directly into the flour. Work into fine lumps with a pastry blender. Using your hands, work the butter and lard between your fingers and thumbs until the mixture resembles course sand. Work quickly.

Measure 1/2 cup of ice water. Mix in the egg and vinegar. Stir well.

Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the liquid. Stir briskly with a fork, incorporating the flour and water as best you can. Then use your hands to press the dough into a ball, pressing the loose flour into the dough. Work quickly. Do not knead like bread. The dough may be crumbly, and that's okay.

Cut the dough into four quarters. Press each piece into a round shape, wrap in plastic and refrigerate at least an hour before rolling for your pie. Here's a recipe for a simple, rustic apple tarte.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

 Breakfast, lunch and dinner!

Crabapple Pie

My neighbours Andrea and Max have a big crabapple tree that hangs into my yard, which is pretty convenient for me since I love crabapples. As a kid on the farm, I used to pick an ice cream pail of crabapples and eat them while watching Saturday cartoons. I've always had a sour tooth...

Crabapples make a really good pie. Sure, it takes a little more time to peel and chop a bunch of smaller apples, but well worth the effort.

As a bonus, I made the pie crust with fresh-off-the-farm cultured butter, provided by a fan of this blog. I've read that a lot of top chefs prefer the flavour of cultured butter. And I think my pie crust never tasted better.