Last night I asked fiance what he wanted for dinner, and he replied with a one word answer – poutine. For those of you to yet experience the glory that is poutine, I’m letting you know now that you are missing out. 

Poutine originated in the 1950’s in Quebec, the french province of Canada. My best memories of this dish are from high school, where poutine was served every day in the cafeteria. I still remember – plain fries were $1.50, fries and gravy were $2, and poutine was $2.50, served in brown recycled trays which would start to get soggy if you didn’t scoop up the gravy fast enough.

This is pure comfort food. Get on the couch, put a movie on and eat with a fork, spoon or your fingers, as we used to. I make it sparingly since healthy meals have been seared into my brain {thanks mom}, but every once in a while, I need this. All the gorey gorgeous details below.

Ingredients

Fries or chips – depending if you’re North American or from the UK

Cheese curds or grated white cheese

Brown gravy

All of the above – as much as desired

Method

Cook fries / chips for as long as outlined on the package – roughly 20 minutes. While they’re cooking, prepare your gravy. Homemade gravy is preferable and makes it even more delicious, but granulated gravy will work. If you can’t find cheese curds, don’t worry. I haven’t come across any in my seven years here, so grated white cheese is an acceptable alternative. 

Once everything’s cooked and grated, add the fries / chips to your plate, layer on the cheese, and then drown it with gravy like it’s a house on fire. I went a bit heavy with the gravy in this picture, but that’s because I like my poutine struggling for air. A true treat that reminds me of home. 

Sundays Street Feast was a phenomenal hit. It was a great day and me and my man got to stuff our faces with delicate delights while getting to know our lovely neighbors, most of which we had never had the chance to bump into – an unfortunate occurrence in apartment blocks these days.

I woke up nice and early on Sunday morning and  made enough pastry for two tourtiere’s, blind baked them, made the filling for both pies, and baked them both. By the time I was finished, I was ready to eat them myself. It took a world of self control to not hack into them.

We were fortunate enough to meet two Canadians who were staying with neighbors on their holidays, and they were kindly able to accurately approve my tourtiere’s.

Since I had never made a tourtiere before, I was nervous. It’s been years since I had one, and I was worried I would ruin Canada’s rep in our community. But when it came to the moment of truth, those who tried it were pleasantly surprised. If you’d like to try this surprisingly straightforward recipe, all the important bits are blow. Great served hot for dinner, and leftovers kept for a picnic or lunch all week.

Additional note: my recipe has been amended to reflect a 100% true Canadien tourtiere. Thanks for the tips Emilie!

Ingredients
1/2lbs beef, cubed or minced/ground
1/2lbs pork, cubed or minced/ground
bacon to taste
2 potatoes, cubed
1 onion diced
salt and pepper to taste
1 recipe for double crust pastry – I found a good one here


Added to the pie from a previous recipe before being given the heads up on a true recipe
as much or as little garlic as you want
1/4 cup water
2tsp cornflour – to thicken if it gets a touch watery
1tsp sage – chopped fresh or dried
1tsp thyme – chopped fresh or dried
1/4tsp ground cloves

Method
Blind bake your pie base for 10 minutes. While that’s baking, combine all ingredients {except water and cornflour} in a pot and cook. Depending on how much fat is in the meat and how much liquids form in your filling, you may need to add the water, or add cornflour. Once the meat is cooked, serve into the semi-baked crust, place the uncooked pastry lid on top, pierce the top to let any hot air out, and cook in the oven at 180C for roughly 15-20 minutes – until the pastry on top is cooked. Cut, serve, stuff your face. 


I got my first recipe here and tweaked it where necessary, but was given an old school tourtiere recipe found here. 

Click here for a handy cooking calculator, should you prefer to measure in cups, mls, oz, etc.