Canada is a vast country with a diverse population, both indigenous and immigrant. That makes it hard to come up with a definitive answer to the question: what is a typical Canadian dish? However, butter tarts and tourtière will both be recognisable to most Canadians, and are a great way to celebrate the country’s food on Canada Day on July 1. The celebrations usually revolve around the barbecue, with burgers, ribs and hotdogs always winners and bright yellow mustard always present, but there’s no reason a big meat pie and butter tarts can’t also feature, not least because they’re always a good idea at any time of year. At Labombe, the wine bar at my restaurant Trivet in London, we’ll be celebrating Canada Day with lobster rolls, poutine and bloody caesars, a very Canadian drink in which the tomato juice in a bloody mary is replaced with tomato and clam-flavoured Clamato; keeping on theme for dessert, we’ll also be baking a few blueberry pies along with those obligatory butter tarts.
Tourtière
The meat in the filling varies depending on where you are in Canada. I often go for a mix of 500g pork mince and 200g veal mince, but game is more popular in some parts of the country, so they add venison, for instance, to the mix. You will need a 20cm pie tin.
Prep 20 min
Chill 2 hr+
Cook 1 hr 30 min
Serves 6-8
For the brisée dough
275g plain flour
⅓ tsp (2g) fine salt
225g cold unsalted butter, cut into 2cm cubes
For the filling
50g unsalted butter
1 medium onion, peeled and finely diced (120g)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced
100g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
100ml dry white wine
700g pork mince
2 tsp (5g) ground cloves, or to taste
2¼ tsp (6g) ground cinnamon, or to taste
50g potato
75g cooked ham hock, shredded
20g reduced pork stock, ideally jellified
1 egg yolk
10ml cream
1 pinch fine salt
First make the pastry. Mix the flour and salt in medium bowl, then rub in the butter with your fingertips until the mix is crumbly. Add 70g ice-cold water (in baking, I always weigh everything, even liquids, to be more precise), then stir with a fork just until the mix comes together into a dough – do not overwork it. Wrap in clingfilm and put in the fridge to rest for at least two hours.
Take the dough out of the fridge and put to one side for 15 minutes, so it’s warm enough to roll, then cut it in half. Roll each half into a roughly 5mm-thick circle.
While the dough is chilling, make the filling. Melt the butter in a medium pan on a medium heat, then sweat the onion and garlic for five minutes, just to soften and not colour. Add the sliced mushrooms and cook for three or four minutes, until they release their water and it evaporates. Pour in the wine and cook for another five minutes, until that, too, has almost completely evaporated.
Stir in the mince and ground spices, turn down the heat to low and leave to cook gently for 20 minutes. Peel the potato, then grate it directly into the mix, stir and cook for five minutes. Season with salt and more spices to taste, then leave to cool.
Heat the oven to 230C (220C fan)/450F/gas 8. Line a 20cm pie tin with one of the dough circles, then fill with the mince mix. Scatter the ham hock over top, then dot all over with the reduced stock. Mix the egg yolk, cream and salt in a small bowl, then brush all around the edge of the dough. Lay the second dough circle on top, pinch all around the edges to seal, then brush the top with the remaining egg wash.
Bake the tourtière for 20 minutes, then turn down the oven to 180C (170C fan)/350F/gas 4 and bake for 20-25 minutes longer, until the crust is golden brown and the filling bubbling. Rest for at least 20 minutes, then slice and serve.
Butter tarts
You’ll need a 12-cup muffin tin and an 11cm round pastry cutter. As with all baking, it pays to be precise, so I always weigh out the ingredients, rather than measure by volume.
Prep 10 min
Soak 30 min
Chill 50 min+
Cook 15 min
Makes 12
For the pastry
200g plain flour
⅘ tsp (5g) fine salt
60g cold unsalted butter, cubed, plus extra for greasing
50g cold lard or vegetable shortening, cubed
1 egg yolk
1 tsp (5g) white vinegar
For the filling
35g currants
115g light brown sugar
⅔ tsp (4g) salt
105g maple syrup
1 tsp (5g) vanilla paste
60g butter, melted
1 egg
Mix the flour and salt in a medium bowl, add the cubed and lard, and work the mix between your fingertips until it comes together into pea-sized pieces.
In a small bowl, mix 60g ice-cold water with the egg yolk and vinegar, then tip into the flour mixture and combine with a fork. Using your hands, press the mix with your hands a few times, just until it comes together into a ball, then shape the dough into a thick, flat rectangle, wrap in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Roll out the chilled dough into a large, roughly 5mm-thick rectangle, then use an 11cm-diameter cutter to cut out 12 rounds – you will need to re-roll and cut the scraps to make 12. Gently press the rounds into the cups of a greased 12-hole muffin tin, then chill again for 20 minutes.
Heat the oven to 230C (220C fan)/450F/gas 8, and in the meantime make the filling. Soak the currants in warm water for at least half an hour, to plump up. In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, salt, syrup, vanilla and melted butter with a wooden spoon, then beat in the egg.
Drain the currants and drop them evenly into the chilled pastry shells. Divide the filling mix evenly between the 12 tart shells, filling each one by about halfway, then bake for eight minutes. Turn down the heat to 200C (190C fan)/400F/gas 6 and bake for seven minutes more, until the pastry is golden and the filling has puffed up. Take the tin out of the oven, put it on a rack to cool for three minutes, then slip out the tarts and put on the rack to cool enough to eat and to give the filling time to set.