Adapted from Canadian Living.

I’ve been making this one at Christmas for a few years now.  Like any of my recipes, this one is very versatile, and easy to double, and even triple.  You can make individual turnover style tourtiere for a cocktail party or buffet, or a full sized pie if you like.  Each double crust pastry recipe should yield 24 turnovers.  I tripled this recipe and made 48 turnovers and a full sized pie.

WHAT

• 2/3 cup cubed, peeled potato.  I almost never do this.  I make a whole pot of mashed potatoes, and then use it as an excuse to make Leek & Potato Soup on the back burner.
• 12 oz lean ground pork, or whatever convenient, non-standard sized package your grocer or butcher has.
• 1 small onion, finely chopped (I use a quarter to a half of a large Texas sweet)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced (or a heaping teaspoon of the minced stuff from the jar)
• 1 rib celery, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup sodium-reduced chicken broth – use a tetra, use concentrate, a bullion cube, make from scratch- it doesn’t matter.
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 bay leaf

HOW

If you’re not just going to make a pot of mashed potatoes, you can microwave cubed potatoes for 5 min or so with a couple of tablespoons of water, and then coarsely mash with a fork and set aside.

Brown the meat.  I add the garlic, onions and celery while it’s browning.  Don’t forget to drain.  Once browned, add the spices, mashed potato, bay leaf and chicken broth.  Simmer, stirring regularly until most of the liquid is evaporated and then turn off the element and let it cool.

You CAN make your own pastry, I often do.  The one over at Canadian Living is as good as any I’ve used.  But this close to Christmas, I’m desperately short of counter space and time, and since Thursday was a chemo day, I’m still not feeling that hot, so I cheated.  Each double crust makes either one family sized tourtiere, or 24 or so turnovers.

If making turnovers, I use a pint glass and punch out rounds of pastry, then fill with 1tbsp (ish) of filling.  Dip finger in water and trace edge of pastry round, then fold over and crimp with a fork.

Don’t overfill.

They explode.

For a full pie, just drop whatever you’re using for pastry in to a 9″ pie plate, fill, add top crust and crimp edges to seal.  Whether making turnovers or a pie, don’t forget to cut vents.

They explode.

For turnovers, space them evenly on a parchment lined cookie sheet, for a pie, I always set the filled pie on a pan and lift that, so I don’t wind up breaking the crust trying to get it out of the oven.

Beat one egg lightly with about a tbsp of water, and brush pastry.  Sprinkle with Kosher salt if desired.

Bake in the bottom third of the oven at 425 for the first 15 minutes or so, then reduce heat, and bake an additional 15 min at 350.  For the pie, you may wish to use pie shields or tinfoil over the outer edge of the crust when you reduce the oven temp, on order to prevent scorching.

You’ll know when they’re done.  They’ll be golden brown, and your house will smell delicious.

Remove from oven and cool on wire racks.

If you’re making these ahead, freeze them in a single layer, then reheat on parchment lined baking sheet at 350 until they smell good.  If reheating a pie from frozen, don’t forget to shield the outer crust.

Your other option, of course, is just to eat them all.  🙂