Day 5:Canada Meat Pie (tourtière)

Day 5:Canada

 In case you haven't been following, I thought it would be fun to give my kids some culture during the Olympics. I am preparing traditional meals for different countries every night until the Olympics are over. We also share some fun facts about the country and look at each flag. We have been having a fun time learning about these other counties.

Be prepared to spend 2 1/2 to 3  hours making this bad boy. I have to say that this looked and sounded rather interesting. I was surprised to find out that it wasn't bad. It took some time before my kids would finally eat it but in the end 2 of the 3 ate it and liked it. Or at least they pretended to.

Meat Pie (tourtière)

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground pork
• 1 large baking potato
• 1 large onion, minced
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 dash ground allspice
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch double crust deep dish pie
• 1 egg
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Directions

1.     Bake the potato until done, 30 - 45 minutes in a preheated 400 degrees F (205 degrees C) oven. Peel and mash the potato.

2.     Place the potato, ground pork, onion, spices and water in a large frying pan and simmer until very thick, for about one hour.

3.     Meanwhile, prepare your pastry.

4.     Line a deep-dish pie plate with pastry. Spoon in filling, spreading evenly. Cover with top crust.

5.     Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with paprika, if desired. Cut steam vent. Bake for 50 minutes at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). If edges brown too fast, cover with a strip of foil. Serve warm.

Fun Canadian facts:

The belief that the North Pole is owned by Canada is false. No country owns the North Pole.

It's the world's second largest country according to total area.

Half of the country is covered with forests, which should not be surprising, considering one-tenth of the world's forests are here.