This is sublime Canadian comfort food. Flaky savoury dough encasing flavourful “meat” and onions. This was a delicious meat alternative for Christmas dinner (my Brother-in-law didn’t realize that it was veg!), and the MVP on Boxing Day. Try it either accompanied with a light salad, or alongside potatoes with both smothered in gravy.
Vegan Tourtière: An original recipe by Agent Minty
Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 90g or 6 Tbsp refined coconut oil (if you can’t find this, use shortening)
- 45g or 3Tbsp margarine (soft table margarine is OK here)
- 1/4 cup cold water
- 3 Tbsp malt vinegar (apple cider vinegar will also work)
- 1/3 loaf Seitan Turkey or 3/4 of one commercial Torfurky roast, cooked and stuffing removed
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1 medium onion
- 1 garlic clove
- 6 or so mushrooms
- 1 rib of celery
- 1/2 carrot
- approximately 1/4 c dry white wine
- 1.5 cups vegetarian bouillon
- 2 tsp dried sage
- 2 tsp dried thyme
- 1/4 c chopped fresh or 2 Tbsp dried parsley
- 3 Tbsp non-dairy milk
- 1 tsp margarine
- 1/2 tsp Psyllium husk (Often sold as Metamucil) *optional*
Instructions:
First, prepare the pastry dough:
- Combine flour and salt in a large bowl.
- Drop in tablespoon-sized blobs of coconut oil and margarine, shaking bowl between additions.
- Using a pastry cutter or two knives, cut fat into flour until the largest lumps are slightly less than pea-sized.
- make a well in the centre and add in all of the cold water.
- Mix in with the edge of a spatula until mostly combined.
- Sprinkle half of the vinegar over the mixture, mix in a few stirs, then add the rest.
- Stir a few times – dough should be slightly sticky, slightly crumbly. If it doesn’t hold together at all, add another Tablespoon or so of water.
- Turn out onto a sheet of waxed paper and knead a few times.
- Form into a puck about an inch and a half thick, and place in the refrigerator to cool.
Prepare the filling:
- Cut your loaf into 1-2 inch cubes.
- Use a food processor to mince the cubes of loaf until they are the size of TVP or “ground beef” crumbles.
- In a large-diameter pot with a lid, heat up half of the oil on Medium.
- Add in ground loaf, stirring, and cook for 2 minutes.
- Chop up onions, garlic, mushrooms, carrots, and celery.
- Add chopped vegetables and remaining oil, and stir well to combine.
- Turn heat down to medium-low and cover pot with lid.
- Cook, stirring every 2 minutes, until onions are translucent – about 10 minutes.
Some loaf will stick to the pan. This is normal. - Deglaze the pan by adding white wine and gently scraping away stuck bits with a spatula or wooden spoon.
- Add broth – you want food to be about 3/4 covered, so add another 1/2 cup water if needed.
- Bring to a simmer and cover with lid.
- Stir every few minutes and simmer until only a few mm of liquid is left on the bottom of the pot.
- Stir in sage, thyme, and parsley
- Turn off heat and set pot on an unused element or trivet to cool slightly.
Assemble pie:
- Preheat over to 375F.
- Set pastry on the counter and let warm up for about 5 minutes.
- Using lots of flour, roll out dough to approximately 5mm thick. Cut into a ~15-inch circle.
- Transfer circle of dough to a standard 9-inch pie plate and gently press to fit.
- Use small bits of cut-off dough to patch any holes or cracks in the bottom or sides of the crust.
- Pour filling into crust and level out.
- Take cut-off scraps and knead together a few times.
- Roll out with more flour to a 10-inch circle.
- Place on top of the pie filling.
- Fold bottom crust’s edges over top and crimp with a fork to seal. Slit top in several places.
- Microwave margarine and milk together.
- If you have it, stir in psyllium husk. This thickens the mix and also helps it cling to the pastry.
- Brush every part of the exposed crust with the milk/margarine mix and cover edges of pie with tinfoil or a ring-style shield.
- Bake in centre of the oven for 30 minutes.
- Remove crust shield and bake for another 10 minutes.
[…] BOTH of these options are improved by the addition of 1/4 tsp of psyllium husk (I use this in my Tourtière recipe), as it helps the wash cling to the […]