Recipe: Tourtiere (French Meat Pie)

Tourtiere (French Meat Pie) for Dave

From Toronto Star, quote: "A wonderful version of a fabulous Quebecois tradition. Serve this meat pie with your favourite chutney or other condiment and whatever veggies you prefer. The pastry, made with hot water, is so good you'll want to use the recipe for other pies."

Pastry:
1/2 lb. (250g) veg. shortening or lard
1/2 cup boiling water
3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Filling:
1 med. potato, peeled
1 lb (500g) ground pork (I think you could put 1/2 pork and 1/2 beef, Dave -
know it's usually a combination of the two)
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, cut into 3 pieces
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
3/4 tsp. ground sage
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 egg, beaten with 1 tbsp. water

To make pastry: In medium bowl, beat shortening until smooth. Beat in water to soften shortening. In separate large bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt; gradually add to shortening mixture to form smooth, soft dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate while preparing filling.

To make filling: Cut potato into large chunks; place in sauce pan, cover with water and boil 15 min. or till soft. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup water. In saucepan, combine reserved potato water, pork, onion, celery, garlic, salt,
thyme, sage and cloves. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 30 min. or until vegs. are tender, pork is no longer pink and water has evaporated. Discard celery; season to taste with pepper.

Meanwhile, in bowl, mash potato with fork. Stir into cooked meat mixture; cool completely.

On lightly floured surface, roll out half of pastry to 1/8 inch thick. Place in 9 inch pie plate; fill with meat misture. Roll out remaining pastry; place over filling. Trim; flute edges. Brush with egg mixture; cut steam vents in top.

Bake in preheated oven at 450 F for 10 min.; reduce heat to 350 F and bake 25 min. more or until pastry is golden.
Makes 6 servings.