Thursday, December 22, 2011

Vegetarian Tourtiere


The family and friends are getting together this weekend for the BIG celebration. Our family is both multi ethnic with a variety of religious affiliations. As my SIL "R" says, we celebrate Chrismakkah in a non denominational way. Everybody brings a little bit of where they come from and who they are to the table and it's a wonderful celebration. That's not to say that it's stress free. Hell no!

Our newest member of the family as I've mentioned before, is a vegetarian so it's always a challenge for me to create something that's vegetarian worthy while still being tasty. Since I'm not a vegetarian it presents a greater challenge for me only because it's unfamiliar. This year, I made traditional French Canadian tourtieres but also wanted our veggie being to have some too. I found a recipe for vegetarian tourtieres on Canadian Living . So happy!!!! I was particularly happy since our vegetarian is from Venezuela and having something so distinctly Canadian was important for me.

It took the better part of a day (start to finish) to create the tourtiere. I also decided to go with a vegetable shortening premade pie crust (although I'm listing Canadian Living's recipe for the crust). Everything went amazingly UNTIL I took the tourtiere out of the oven. I won't repeat what came out of my mouth - I'll just show you. Don't you just hate when this happens?



I couldn't believe it. I should have put a pan underneath it prior to putting it in the oven. I didn't. I will next time. The filling, by the way, is really and truly tasty and inspite of the crack I'm sure it'll be well received for the effort.

Ingredients

2 cups (500 mL) TVP* (Textured Vegetable Protein)
2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
3 ribs celery, (with leaves)diced
2 onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups (500 mL) cubed peeled potatoes
2 tsp (10 mL) tamari or sodium-reduced soy sauce
1-1/2 tsp (7 mL) dried savory
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) pepper
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground allspice
1/4 tsp (1 mL) ground cloves
2 bay leaves
2 cups (500 mL) vegetable broth


Pepper Thyme Pastry
:

3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1 tsp (5 mL) dried thyme
1/2 tsp (2 mL) cracked black peppercorns
1/2 cup (125 mL) unsalted butter
1/2 cup (125 mL) shortening
2 tsp (10 mL) vinegar
2/3 cup (150 mL) Ice water

Pepper Thyme Pastry: In bowl, whisk together flour, salt, thyme and pepper. Using pastry blender or 2 knives, cut in butter and shortening until in fine crumbs with a few larger pieces. In liquid measure, whisk vinegar with enough ice water to make 2/3 cup (150 mL). Drizzle over flour mixture, tossing with fork to form ragged dough.

Divide in half; press into 2 discs. Wrap each and refrigerate until chilled, about 30 minutes. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate for up to 24 hours.)

In large bowl, pour 1 cup (250 mL) boiling water over TVP; cover and let stand for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in shallow Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook celery, onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until golden, about 10 minutes.

Stir in potatoes, tamari, savory, salt, pepper, allspice, cloves, bay leaves and TVP; cook, stirring often, for 5 minutes.

Stir in broth and 1 cup (250 mL) water; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until potatoes are tender, 30 to 40 minutes.

Break up most of the potatoes with back of spoon; simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened, 7 to 10 minutes. Let cool. (Make-ahead: Refrigerate in airtight container for up to 24 hours.)

On lightly floured surface, roll out 1 of the pastry discs to generous 1/8-inch (3 mm) thickness. Fit into 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate. Trim to rim of plate. Spoon in filling.

Roll out remaining pastry. Brush rim with water. Place pastry over filling; trim to leave 3/4-inch (2 cm) overhang. Fold overhang under pastry rim; flute to seal.

Roll out pastry scraps; cut out holiday shapes. Brush top of pie with water; arrange cutouts on top. Cut steam vents in top. Bake in bottom third of 400°F (200°C) oven until bubbly and golden, about 1 hour.



Links:

** More about TVP
Arguments for and against the use of TVP StumbleUpon

3 comments:

That Girl said...

I've never even heard of tourtieres, let alone a vegetarian version - sounds delicious.

eatme_delicious said...

Aw you are too sweet to make a vegetarian tourtiere when you're not vegetarian! :) I'm sure they'll love it. My mom used to make tourtiere every Christmas Eve (the meat one) and I always hated it haha.

Cyberpelón said...

It was DELICIOUS!!!!!

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