French-Canadian Tourtiere

If you’ve ever thought pie dough was reserved for grandmas or people with too much time on their hands — same here. But after making it once at my George Brown cooking class, it turns out to not be so b ad.

I had some leftover fresh rosemary, so I chopped it up and threw it into the dough to give it that “fancy French flair” — or as the French call it, je ne sais quoi (translation: “let’s hope this makes it fancy”).

I blitzed the butter and flour in my food processor. I swapped out the classic cold water for buttermilk because that’s what I had on hand, and honestly — the tangy bite was worth the gamble.

 I chopped two potatoes, boiled them till soft, and saved some of the starchy water for later — pro tip: this stuff can be liquid gold for additional flavour and thickening.

Next came the veggies. I brunoise’d celery and carrots, it took me longer than I’d like to admit, but at least there were no new knife injuries that day (though I did cut myself earlier on something else — the hazards of having a hobby, am I right?).

After softening the veggies in a butter/oil combo, I seasoned the mix, threw in ground pork and beef, and — plot twist — added a splash of fish sauce and honey. A move that would probably horrify any French-Canadian, but I wanted to experiment with a little extra umami kick.

Once the filling cooled, it was time to wrangle that dough. In hindsight, I probably needed a touch more liquid, because rolling it out felt like trying to flatten a yoga mat made of concrete. But I powered through, lined my pie plate, filled it with the meaty goodness, topped it off with another layer of dough, and gave it the ol’ egg wash — using a paper towel, because of course I don’t own a pastry brush like an actual grown-up.

After about an hour in the oven, out came a golden, slightly rustic but undeniably beautiful Tourtière. The crust was flaky with that lovely rosemary-infused bite, though slightly thicker than I’d have liked. The filling was rich and cozy, but the spice mix leaned a little too “Christmas” for me (I would reduce the allspice, cinnamon, and nutmeg). Oh, and the fish sauce? Great in theory — but note to self: adjust the salt ratio if I decide to add fish sauce (which I did in the recipe below).