Tourtière tarts

A Canadian favourite in bite-sized form!

Tourtière pops up frequently on lists of quintessential Canadian foods. While we often tend to associate this meat pie with winter feasts, especially over the Christmas season, there’s nothing stopping you from enjoying the sweet-savoury flavours of tourtière any time of the year. For these tarts – perfect for a Canada Day Party – I’ve lightened up the texture a little by adding in a lot of chopped vegetables. Serve them with a variety of condiments, such as chili sauce, salsa or cranberry chutney. You can make the tarts ahead, freeze and reheat gently, or cook the filling a day or two before your party and then simply fill the tart shells and bake them at the last minute.

Ingredients

• 1 pound (500 grams) lean ground pork
• 2 tablespoons (30 ml) canola oil
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 celery stalk, diced
• 1 small carrot, diced
• 1 1/2 cups (375 mL) finely chopped mushrooms
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3/4 cup(175 mL) chicken or beef stock
• 1 teaspoon (5 mL) dried savory
• 1/4 tsp (1.25 mL) each ground cinnamon and cloves
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• premade frozen tart shells
• salsa, chutney, or chili sauce, for garnish

Method

• Cook pork in a large skillet over medium heat, stirring often, until no longer pink.
• Add oil, then add onion, celery and carrot. Sauté for about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes longer, until all vegetables are softened.
• Add stock, savory, cinnamon and cloves. Simmer for about 5 minutes or until almost no liquid remains. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Let cool for 15 minutes then refrigerate or freeze until you are ready to bake tarts. If frozen, thaw meat carefully before proceeding.
• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Place frozen tart shells on a baking sheet and fill shells with meat mixture.
• Bake for about 20 minutes or until golden brown.
• Serve warm.

Makes enough filling for about 30 tarts.