Tourtiere  

Tourtiere is traditionally served at Christmas time. The standard recipes call for any combination of ground beef, pork, lamb, venison or veal. Please note that we are dedicated meat eaters. However, one Christmas we entertained vegetarian friends. We searched the web and came up with the following that uses TVP (textured vegetable protein - available at health food stores) instead of ground meat. The result is by far the best tourtiere that we have ever had and even though we are dedicated omnivores, we will never again make tourtiere with meat.

Ingredients

Preparation

1. Roll out pastry and put in pie plate. Trim. Roll out top crust and loosely roll around the rolling pin. Refrigerate til filling is made.
2. Soak TVP in vegetable stock (it should absorb all the liquid). Add more stock or TVP to make it the consistency of ground beef.
3. Heat oil in a large cast iron frying pan. Saute onions until transluscent. Add mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes more.
4. Reduce heat to medium. Stir in breadcrumbs, seasonings, almonds and cranberries. Adjust spices to taste.
5. Stir in wet TVP and beer. Cook until all the liquid has evaporated but mixture is still moist. You may need to adjust the amount of liquid depending on the heat and the absorbancy of the TVP.
6. Let cool slightly.
7. Put into a pie shell. Put the top pastry piece on. Crimp edges, and slash the top. Place in refrigerator for about ½ an hour.
8. Bake the pie in a preheated 425F oven for 15 minutes, reduce heat to 350F and bake 45-55 minutes more until the pies are golden.

Serve with Major Grey Mango Chutney (mild English style chutney) and/or Pulyinji (Ginger Tamarind Chutney) and/or cranberry confit and/or cranberry sauce.

Revised from a recipe found at Veggies Unite!

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to Christmas Eve Menu 1998

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ejm (aka llizard) 2000-2002, 2007
Toronto Ontario Canada