Tourtière

This is the recipe that Maman sent me about a year ago, and it works fairly well. I subbed in a pound of ground pork and a pound of meat loaf mix last night. I suspect that the actual proportions of the meat has very little to do with the success of the dish, though if the meat you use is too lean, you may have some issues with dryness. My advice is to keep a can of chicken broth on-hand to toss in if things start looking too dry, but you probably won't need it. Recipe for pie crust forthcoming.

1 1/2 pounds ground pork

1/2 pounds ground beef

1 medium onion, chopped finely

Salt and pepper

2 large potatoes, mashed

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon allspice

1/4 teaspoon cloves

Pastry for 1 two-crust, nine-inch pie

Cook the meats in their own juices until they're a uniform grey color. Don't brown the meat. Add the onion, salt, and pepper. Simmer on low heat until the onion starts to look soft and cooked. Maman's recipe says one hour, but I've found that this is overkill. Ten to fifteen minutes should be plenty. Add the potatoes to the meat and add cinnamon, allspice, and ground cloves.

Allow to simmer, covered, on low heat for about half an hour, stirring occasionally to avoid burning. (If it looks like it's getting unpleasantly dry, add some chicken broth, but not too much or the crust will sog.) Note: I used this half hour to start the pie pastry. Making the pastry takes more than half an hour, but you can use the extra time to let your filling cool a bit so it will be easier to put into the pie shell.

Pour the filling into the pie shell, cover with pastry, and heat in 375° oven for 1 hour or until brown.