La Maison and Tourtiere

My husband asked me last night what television programs I watched as a child. I remember "Chez Helene" and other French Canadian programs, as I was being raised in both English and French Canadian cultures. I began in a French Catholic school. My father (English) decided soon after that I would not continue there. He came to my school one day, removed me from class, and enrolled me the same day in an English public school.

Eventually I lost most of my French. The quilt above is titled La Maison, which deals with the feelings I had during the change from French to English. I created the centre collage panel of this quilt in 2003, and completed the quilt in 2005. The red embroidery above the chimney is the Red Lion of Wales, and there are blue Fleur de Lis in the sky.

To celebrate my French Canadian culture on this snowy Sunday, my husband and I spent the day making Tourtiere (meat pie) and I've included my recipe here:

1/2 lb ground pork
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1/4 c. chopped onion
1 stalk chopped celery
1 chopped green bell pepper
1 Yukon Gold potato, cooked and mashed
1 tsp. each of salt, dried thyme, and dried rosemary
1/2 tsp. fresh ground pepper
Optional: minced garlic cloves
1 recipe of pastry for a 9" double crust pie (I use the Tenderflake Lark recipe)

Brown ground pork and beef in frying pan (add garlic if desired). Remove meat from pan and set aside to cool. Add onion, celery and pepper to pan. Saute until cooked but not too soft. Mix the cooked vegetable, meat, potato and spices together. Completely cool in fridge.

Spoon cooled mixture into pie shell. Cover with top crust. Flute the edge and cut vent holes in top. Bake at 425 degrees F for 30-35 minutes or until brown.