Venison Tourtière

Recipe and introduction by Ryan Sparks

While living in Canada I was introduced to tourtière, a French-Canadian meat pie. In Quebec, tourtière is traditionally part of the Christmas and New Year’s Eve meal. These days it is made with a mixture of pork and beef, but traditionally it was made with wild game like deer, moose, and caribou.

When I tried it for the first time I immediately knew it was perfectly suited for venison. This version, with its fragrant baking spices and rich meatiness, combines perfectly with the cranberry aroma and bright acidity of Passalacqua’s Radici della Famiglia Quindici. Together, they create the smells and tastes of a Quebecois Christmas.

Tourtière is usually served with a sweet tomato relish or jam. I’ve included a recipe for my version.

I would also be cheating you out of some fun if I didn’t mention the French-Canadian tradition of using the leftover pastry to make pets de sœur, a pasty filled with butter, brown sugar, and maple syrup which is rolled, sliced, and baked and whose rough translation is “nun’s farts.”

Ingredients

Pastry
2 ¼ cups All-purpose flour
1 cup unsalted butter, still cold and cut into cubes
1 ¼ tsp. salt
4-6 tablespoons ice water
Filling
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 lb. ground venison
½ lb. ground pork
Salt and pepper to taste
¼ lb. cremini mushrooms, finely diced
1 onion, finely diced
4 garlic cloves, minced
¼ teaspoon ground clove
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon allspice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 small potato, grated
½ cup Passalacqua Stiling Chardonnay
Assembly
Flour, for rolling
1 egg yolk
Sweet Tomato Sauce
14 ounces canned tomatoes and their juice
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 tablespoon tomato paste
¼ teaspoon mustard powder
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon crushed red pepper (optional)
Salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

Pastry

In a large mixing bowl or food processor, combine the flour and salt. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with your finger tips or a pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse meal. Do not overwork. Stir in enough ice water to make the dough come together.

Divide dough in half. Flatten each half into a round disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for one hour.

Filling

Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and butter. Add the meat a third at a time, allowing it to brown. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. When small bits of caramelized meat start to form add the mushrooms, onions, garlic, spices and grated potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium and continue cooking for 5-10 minutes. Add the white wine, scraping the bottom of the pan to remove the tasty meat bits. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking until all the wine has evaporated. Taste the tourtière filling and adjust the seasoning and spices as you like. Let cool completely.

Assembly

Preheat the over to 450 degrees. Lightly flour a work surface and roll each pastry round into an 11 inch circle approximately an 1/8 inch thick. Using one pastry, line a 9 inch pie plate. If the pastry is too soft put it in the freezer for five minutes.

Add the tourtière filling and cover with the second pastry round. Crimp and seal the edges with the tines of a fork. Brush the pastry with an egg yolk and score the top with a knife to allow steam to escape while baking.

Bake for 15 minutes at 450 then reduce the temperature to 350 and bake until the crust is golden brown, about 35 minutes. Cover it with foil if it browns too quickly. Let rest for 10 minutes before serving. Serve with sweet tomato jam and Passalacqua Quindici.

Sweet Tomato Sauce

Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and bring to a quick simmer. After the tomatoes have cooked for five minutes, crush them with a whisk or wooden spatula. Turn heat to low and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally for 20-30 minutes until it has slightly thickened. Taste for seasoning and refrigerate.