Canada’s Lusty Meat Pie

This hearty meal goes heavy on the hog and is guaranteed to warm your belly during the cold-weather months.

Montreal’s epic winters 
produce the dishes of lumberjacks and fur traders, and nothing encapsulates this better than Martin Picard’s tourtiere, or meat pie. “I add big chunks of pig, more fat, and butter in the dough,” says Picard, the chef-owner of Montreal’s Au Pied de Cochon. His secret: pig’s knuckle. “It’s the key to getting a robust pork flavor.”

PICARD’S TOURTIERE DE VILLE

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, thinly sliced

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 tbsp butter

1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped

1/2 cup white wine

1 lb ground pork

a few cloves, ground

a pinch of cinnamon

salt and freshly ground pepper

1 pig’s knuckle, braised and boned (ask your butcher for fresh uncured ham hock)

1 small potato, grated

all-butter short-crust pie dough (see recipe below)

1 cup pork shank meat, braised

1 egg yolk

Step one:

In large pot, sweat the onions and garlic in butter. Add mushrooms and continue cooking until the water given off by the vegetables evaporates completely. Add white wine; let it reduce completely.

Step two:

Add ground pork and spices to pot; cook for 5 minutes, stirring to separate chunks of meat. Add knuckle meat and grated potato. Cook for approximately 10 more minutes. Taste for seasoning and let cool.

Step three:

Roll out pie dough and line a pie plate with half; fill with ground-meat mixture and top with shredded pork-shank meat. Cover with other half of the piecrust; brush with egg yolk.

Step four:

Poke a few holes in the top crust and bake for 15 minutes at 450˚, then lower heat to 350˚ and bake for about 20 minutes.

http://www.mensjournal.com/tourtiere

http://www.depsyl.com/

http://back2basicnutrition.com/

http://bionutritionalresearch.olhblogspace.com/