Tourtiere

I love this traditional Quebec recipe or, perhaps I should say my compilation of several old Quebec recipes. We serve it around Christmas.

Ingredients:

1 pat butter
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup celery leaves chopped
2 large onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 kilo of ground pork or mix other ground meat with the pork such as beef or perhaps a bit of chicken
1 cup water
1/2 cup parsley chopped
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 heaping tsp dried savory
Salt & pepper
Pastry for 2 or 3 double crusted 9 inch pies

In a large saucepan, saute the celery, onions and garlic with a good sized pat of butter. When the onion is transparent add the meat and the water and simmer until it begins to brown.
Add the salt, pepper cloves, cinnamon, savory, celery leaves and parsley, then stir.
Simmer for about half an hour adding a bit more water if needed.
Correct the seasoning at this point if necessary.
Pour off the fat and let the mixture cool.
Add the mixture to the pie shells and cover with pastry cutting a few slits into the top crust. I ofter cut in a Christmas tree design.
At this point you can either pop them into a 400 degree oven or freeze them.
If you decide to cook them now they will take about 30 to 40 minutes - a bit longer if they are frozen - in either case cook them until the pastry is browned.
Serve hot or cold.