Festival du Voyageur is underway and this week’s edition of Homemade includes a trio of classic French and French-Canadian dishes.
Find below reader recipes for Tourtière from Vicki Henderson, French Onion Soup from Janice Scott and Tarte sucre à la crème from Paulette Duguay.
Or you can head down to Whittier Park to sample the francophone fare at Festival, which ends Sunday.
Our next column in March will be all about birthday cake. Fill out the submission form at winnipegfreepress.com/homemade to share your celebratory dessert recipes.
— Eva Wasney
eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca
Tourtière
Ingredients
Filling
454 g (1 lb) ground pork
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
2.5 ml (½ tsp) salt
2.5 ml (½ tsp) thyme
1.25 ml (¼ tsp) sage
1.25 ml (¼ tsp) dry mustard
0.6 ml (1/8 tsp) cloves
125 ml (½ cup) water
1 small potato, cooked and mashed
Pastry
1.25 ml (5 cups) flour
5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
45 ml (3 tbsp) brown sugar
454 g (1 lb) lard
2 eggs
30 ml (2 tbsp) vinegar
Water
Directions
For the pastry, mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Combine eggs and vinegar, plus enough water to create 250 ml (1 cup) of liquid. Add the lard and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until the dough holds together. This recipe makes enough pastry for three pies, which can be stored in the fridge or freezer.
To make the filling, add all the ingredients, except the potato, to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook uncovered for about 25 minutes or until the surplus water has reduced. Add the mashed potato and stir to combine.
Place the filling mixture in the fridge and let chill.
Roll out one-third of the pastry and add half to a pie pan. Add chilled filling to the unbaked shell and top with remaining pastry.
Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F (175 C) and bake for another 20 minutes.
“My mother grew up in the West End of Winnipeg in the 1930s and 1940s. She would occasionally stay with a French-Canadian couple, good friends of her parents, who lived nearby. This tourtière recipe came from this close relationship and has become a family tradition at Christmas time for my two sisters and me. Now my son is following in our footsteps.”
— Vicki Henderson
French Onion Soup
BORIS MINKEVICH / FREE PRESS FILES
French onion soup.
Ingredients
3 large onions, thinly sliced
30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
15 ml (1 tbsp) butter
5 ml (1 tsp) sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) salt
60 ml (¼ cup) dry white wine
1 litre (4 cups) beef stock
1 bay leaf
2.5 ml (½ tsp) thyme
1.35 ml (¼ tsp) black pepper
3 to 4 slices Swiss cheese
3 to 4 slices toasted bread or croutons
Matthew Mead / The associated Press files
French onion soup is elegant restaurant fare but it’s easy to prepare at home.
Directions
In a pot over medium heat, caramelize the sliced onions in the oil and butter for about 20 to 30 minutes.
Sprinkle in sugar and salt, reduce heat and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Don’t rush.
Deglaze the pot with white wine.
Stir in the beef stock, bay leaf, thyme and black pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.
To serve, evenly distribute the soup in 3 or 4 oven-proof bowls.
Top with toast or croutons and place swiss cheese slice over top.
Place bowls on pan, in oven and broil for 2-3 minutes.
“French Onion Soup is always a treat in a restaurant but it is so easy to prepare at home. Elegant and inexpensive!”
— Janice Scott
Tarte sucre à la crème (Sugar Cream Pie)
RUTH BONNEVILLE / FREE PRESS
Paulette Duguay’s traditional tarte sucre à la crème.
Ingredients
375 ml (1-½ cups) packed brown sugar
60 ml (¼ cup) flour
375 ml (1-½ cups) 35 per cent whipping cream
1 deep dish pie shell
Directions
Mix sugar and flour together in a bowl, removing lumps with a whisk or pastry cutter.
Stir in cream and pour batter into a deep dish pie shell. There’s a risk of bubbling over with shallow shells.
Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake pie for one hour. Let cool completely before cutting.
“Sugar pie is a very French-Canadian thing. When it’s Festival time, that’s when the sugar pie comes out, that’s when the Caribou comes out.”
— Paulette Duguay
Eva Wasney
Reporter
Eva Wasney has been a reporter with the Free Press Arts & Life department since 2019. Read more about Eva.
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