Meat Pie (Québec Tourtière de Montréal with Mushrooms)

This is a very moist tourtière, especially a treat if you splurge and use butter in the crust. Granted, it is not a traditional tourtière, especially with the celery, mushroom and breadcrumbs - thus, we call it Montréal-style. But we wanted one that was a bit richer tasting, and one that avoided the dryness that afflicts so many tourtière recipes, even the beloved family ones that - let's face it, can be so dry that everyone has to drown them in ketchup just to be able to choke them down. Great with mash and gravy, and a green tomato chow-chow.

We acknowledge this is not a traditional Montréal meat pie, given the addition of celery, mushroom and bread crumbs (thus, we call it Montréal-style), and we know that whole religious wars are fought over the topic. The reason for adding those ingredients is both to make it moister, and to pad it out and make it more Weight Watchers® friendly. You can leave those ingredients out if you wish. What makes this Montréal-style is that the pork is simmered (which makes your home canned ground meat ideal), and, the spicing.

Filling:
3 onions
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup celery, chopped
2 cups mushrooms, chopped
2 lbs ground pork
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. ground sage
¼ tsp. ground cloves
1½ cup chicken stock
1 cup fresh breadcrumbs

Pastry:
2 cups all-purpose flour, unbleached
½ tsp. sea salt
¾ cup shortening
water
1 egg yolk, beaten with 1 tsp. water, for glaze

Make the Pastry:
Mix the salt and the flour, blend the shortening in, add just enough cold water (a few Tbsp. at a time) to get the dough to form a ball. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least an hour so that the dough can set.

Make the Filling:
Chop the onions, garlic, celery and mushrooms. Set aside.

Start the pork browning in a large, deep skillet, or sauce pan along with the cinnamon, sage and clove. When the pink has gone away, stir in the onion, garlic, celery and mushroom.

Let cook a few minutes, and while that is happening, heat the stock, then add the stock in, and let simmer uncovered for about 35 minutes until only 2 or 3 Tbsp. of liquid is left. Finally, stir in the breadcrumbs, then remove from heat.

Preheat an oven to 350°F (180°C/160°C fan, Gas Mark 4).

While the filling is cooling for a bit, line the bottom of a pie pan with half the chilled pie dough.

Fill with the meat mixture. Place the top crust on and brush with the egg wash. Make a few slits in top of crust.

Bake for about 45 minutes. Remove from oven, let stand for about 10 minutes, then slice and serve piping hot.

Makes 8 servings.

Cook's Notes:

• Instead of shortening in the crust, you can use butter for a richer taste.
• For the celery, you'll want about 3 medium stalks.
• For the mushrooms, you'll want about 4 large handfuls of button mushrooms.
• Instead of sage, you can use summer savoury.
• For the stock, you can use beef or vegetable.
• Instead of breadcrumbs, you can use 150 g of grated potato (1 cup / 5 oz / 1 medium potato) - just add it earlier in the recipe at the start of the simmering period.