Acadiana

Here in the US the cuisine of Louisiana holds an esteemed place in our food culture. Like jazz, we regard Creole and Cajun cooking as American inventions. And, in fact, like jazz the cuisine is inimitably American, made up of many elements both brought on ships and found in this country.

If you imagine Cajun and Creole cuisine as describing a culinary arc from the country cooking of the bayou to the high cuisine of the city, the keystone in the arc is French and, although the French certainly had a direct influence, much of that stone was formed in Canada by the Acadians who were subsequently forced to flee to Louisiana and put their stamp on both haut and bas cuisine.

My direct experience with French Canadian food is limited to a week I spent in Quebec while hitchhiking across Canada at 18. I was picked up outside of Boston by two young construction workers headed home to Quebec for the weekend. They invited me home with them and I ended up spending the weekend there. Their mother made crepes spread with homemade jam for our dinner that first night. I’d never had crepes before.

The second night we had a beef pot pie. Having grown up eating frozen Swanson pot pies, the huge opulent pastry was a revelation. But I was young and chasing something (myself, dreams, acceptance?) across a continent and I quickly forgot about the meal.

Then one afternoon years later I was reading the latest issue of either Bon Appetit or Gourmet and found a recipe for something called Tourtierre. As I read the recipe I remembered that extraordinary pot pie I’d eaten in a small house in Quebec so long before. This is my take on Tourtierre.

This makes a single large pie such as I had in Quebec and suitable for a family meal. I usually make smaller individual pies and freeze them — beats the hell out of Swanson. Serves 10.

Tourtierre

pastry (see below)
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground pork
1 lg onion — diced
3 cloves garlic — minced
2 tbls bacon grease or vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1 c beef stock
3 ea medium potatoes — peeled and quartered
salt and pepper to taste
1 ea egg — for egg wash
1 tsp milk — for egg wash

Make pastry and refrigerate (see below).

Boil potatoes until fork tender. Drain and cool.

In a large sauté pan, heat bacon grease or oil over medium high heat. Add beef, pork, onion, and garlic. Season with salt, pepper, cloves, and allspice. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring to cook evenly. Add beef broth, reduce heat, cover, and simmer 10 minutes. Cool. Drain liquid and reserve.

Heat oven to 400F.

In a bowl, coarsely crumble potatoes with a fork and stir the stir in meat mixture. Add enough of the reserved liquid to thouroughly moisten mixture.

Whisk together egg and milk.

Remove pastry from refrigerator and allow to warm up until top edges are pliable — about 10 minutes. Fill pastry shell to within 1/2″ of top. Moisten edges with egg wash and lay on top crust, fold down edges and press to seal. Brush pastry with egg wash. Cut several slits in top and bake in middle of oven for 40 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Pastry
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp salt
3/4 c cold lard
1/2 c cold butter
5 tbsp ice water

Thoroughly mix flour and salt in a food processor.

Add approximately 1/2 the lard and pulse quickly a couple of times. Add remaining lard and pulse quickly a couple of times. Add butter, and pulse for 8 – 10 one-second bursts until the mixture is the consistency of a coarse corn meal.

Dump mixture in a large bowl, with 3 tablespoons of water, and toss with your hands. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tablespoons of water and use your hands to mix in the water.

Form two balls from the dough, one a bit larger than the other. Press the smaller ball flat on a floured work surface and roll it out to form a rough circle. Using an 8″ springform pan as a template, cut the circle to size of pan. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate. Line the inside of an 8″ springform pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate.

Roll out second ball and line the inside of the springform pan, trimmimg off pastry that over laps the top. Cover pan with plastic and refrigerate. If you wish, cut out designs in scrap dough and refrigerate.

I made mushroom gravy for it, but that’s unnecessary, the pie is plenty moist as is.

Technorati: Food | recipe | main dish | pot pie | beef | pork

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