Delicieux!

I want to go to Quebec again. When I mentioned this to Cornelius, he wasn't too thrilled. Ten years ago, he rode is bike from Vancouver to Montreal and then lived there for 3 short months. He worked as a bike courier during the very cold winter months and lived in a cramped, roach-infested room. He doesn't have very good memories of "La Belle Provence"...except for the meal he ate almost everynight after his courier shift was over which consisted of 4 steamies (hotdogs) and a cup of beer from a fast food chain called "La Belle Provence". Believe me when I say that I've got better memories than that of Quebec!

When I was little, we would visit at least once a year my grandparents in their hometown of Trois-Rivières or spend the summer months at their beach-front cottage at Lac au Sable. Going to visit my grandparents always felt a little strange as my dad would stay home in Ontario while we took the long train ride with my mom to visit her side of the family. My younger brother and I did not speak french very well and although I could understand what was being spoken, I was still quite shy to "parlez vous en francais" out loud. Everything seemed a bit louder in that cottage than in our quiet house in London, Ontario. There was more laughter and more singing and more drinking. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. But for me, going to the lake meant swimming, reading and eating pie. And, oh those pies!

It was at their cottage where I first tasted tartre au sucre. My grandmother would make 2 pies that I remember during the summer, framboise (raspberry) and tartre au sucre (sugar pie). For the raspberry pie, we would head out into the woods with large giant white buckets and start picking all the wild raspberries....some making it into the buckets and some making it into my mouth. Raspberries were my favorite fruit as a child and I loved my grand-maman's raspberry pie. Nothing could top that feeling of biting into the warm pie and crunching the seeds between my teeth. But that was until I tried tartre au sucre. I never knew exactly how that pie came together or what was in it and since my mother never made it, it was a complete mystery to me. But when it arrived on my plate still warm from the oven, I couldn't believe what I had been missing. Sweet, yet not overly so, it was creamy and rich and delicious.

This pie recipe wasn't my grandmother's recipe. My grandmother used real cream, of course, but this recipe still brought those memories flooding back. It's an easy pie to make and not at all mysterious. It's probably not as delicious as my grandmother's pie, but that's the stuff of memories anyway. Enjoy.

tarte au sucre
6 T all-purpose flour
2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 c evaporated milk
4 T butter
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a saucepan, combine flour and sugar. Turn heat to medium-high and stir in milk, butter, salt and vanilla. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour into an unbaked pie shell.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until the pie sets (it should still jiggle but not be liquid).

Delicieux!

I want to go to Quebec again. When I mentioned this to Cornelius, he wasn't too thrilled. Ten years ago, he rode is bike from Vancouver to Montreal and then lived there for 3 short months. He worked as a bike courier during the very cold winter months and lived in a cramped, roach-infested room. He doesn't have very good memories of "La Belle Provence"...except for the meal he ate almost everynight after his courier shift was over which consisted of 4 steamies (hotdogs) and a cup of beer from a fast food chain called "La Belle Provence". Believe me when I say that I've got better memories than that of Quebec!

When I was little, we would visit at least once a year my grandparents in their hometown of Trois-Rivières or spend the summer months at their beach-front cottage at Lac au Sable. Going to visit my grandparents always felt a little strange as my dad would stay home in Ontario while we took the long train ride with my mom to visit her side of the family. My younger brother and I did not speak french very well and although I could understand what was being spoken, I was still quite shy to "parlez vous en francais" out loud. Everything seemed a bit louder in that cottage than in our quiet house in London, Ontario. There was more laughter and more singing and more drinking. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. But for me, going to the lake meant swimming, reading and eating pie. And, oh those pies!

It was at their cottage where I first tasted tartre au sucre. My grandmother would make 2 pies that I remember during the summer, framboise (raspberry) and tartre au sucre (sugar pie). For the raspberry pie, we would head out into the woods with large giant white buckets and start picking all the wild raspberries....some making it into the buckets and some making it into my mouth. Raspberries were my favorite fruit as a child and I loved my grand-maman's raspberry pie. Nothing could top that feeling of biting into the warm pie and crunching the seeds between my teeth. But that was until I tried tartre au sucre. I never knew exactly how that pie came together or what was in it and since my mother never made it, it was a complete mystery to me. But when it arrived on my plate still warm from the oven, I couldn't believe what I had been missing. Sweet, yet not overly so, it was creamy and rich and delicious.

This pie recipe wasn't my grandmother's recipe. My grandmother used real cream, of course, but this recipe still brought those memories flooding back. It's an easy pie to make and not at all mysterious. It's probably not as delicious as my grandmother's pie, but that's the stuff of memories anyway. Enjoy.

tarte au sucre
6 T all-purpose flour
2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 c evaporated milk
4 T butter
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a saucepan, combine flour and sugar. Turn heat to medium-high and stir in milk, butter, salt and vanilla. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour into an unbaked pie shell.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until the pie sets (it should still jiggle but not be liquid).

Delicieux!

I want to go to Quebec again. When I mentioned this to Cornelius, he wasn't too thrilled. Ten years ago, he rode is bike from Vancouver to Montreal and then lived there for 3 short months. He worked as a bike courier during the very cold winter months and lived in a cramped, roach-infested room. He doesn't have very good memories of "La Belle Provence"...except for the meal he ate almost everynight after his courier shift was over which consisted of 4 steamies (hotdogs) and a cup of beer from a fast food chain called "La Belle Provence". Believe me when I say that I've got better memories than that of Quebec!

When I was little, we would visit at least once a year my grandparents in their hometown of Trois-Rivières or spend the summer months at their beach-front cottage at Lac au Sable. Going to visit my grandparents always felt a little strange as my dad would stay home in Ontario while we took the long train ride with my mom to visit her side of the family. My younger brother and I did not speak french very well and although I could understand what was being spoken, I was still quite shy to "parlez vous en francais" out loud. Everything seemed a bit louder in that cottage than in our quiet house in London, Ontario. There was more laughter and more singing and more drinking. Everyone seemed to be having a great time. But for me, going to the lake meant swimming, reading and eating pie. And, oh those pies!

It was at their cottage where I first tasted tartre au sucre. My grandmother would make 2 pies that I remember during the summer, framboise (raspberry) and tartre au sucre (sugar pie). For the raspberry pie, we would head out into the woods with large giant white buckets and start picking all the wild raspberries....some making it into the buckets and some making it into my mouth. Raspberries were my favorite fruit as a child and I loved my grand-maman's raspberry pie. Nothing could top that feeling of biting into the warm pie and crunching the seeds between my teeth. But that was until I tried tartre au sucre. I never knew exactly how that pie came together or what was in it and since my mother never made it, it was a complete mystery to me. But when it arrived on my plate still warm from the oven, I couldn't believe what I had been missing. Sweet, yet not overly so, it was creamy and rich and delicious.

This pie recipe wasn't my grandmother's recipe. My grandmother used real cream, of course, but this recipe still brought those memories flooding back. It's an easy pie to make and not at all mysterious. It's probably not as delicious as my grandmother's pie, but that's the stuff of memories anyway. Enjoy.

tarte au sucre
6 T all-purpose flour
2 c packed brown sugar
1 1/2 c evaporated milk
4 T butter
1/2 t salt
1 t vanilla
1 unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

2. In a saucepan, combine flour and sugar. Turn heat to medium-high and stir in milk, butter, salt and vanilla. Stir constantly until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and pour into an unbaked pie shell.

3. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes or until the pie sets (it should still jiggle but not be liquid).

not a pretty picture

When I was little, I couldn't wait until Christmas or Thanksgiving to arrive. Sure, there was turkey, but I was always more enamoured with the Tourtière, the French Canadian pork pie that my mom always had on the table. My brother, on the other hand, favoured Pate Chinois which translates into chinese pie but really is nothing of the sort. Pate Chinois is really just shepherd's pie with a French Canadian twist (and the twist, I guess, is the funny name). My mom would make Pate Chinois on those cold, blustery days during the winter and nothing seemed to take the chill out of the air like that bright orange casserole pot coming out of the oven.

Earlier this week, I decided to make some Pate Chinois, but instead of using ground beef like my mom always used, I made it with ground lamb. Either works wonderfully for this very down home stick-to-your-ribs meal.

pate chinois
1 T vegetable oil
1 large onion, diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
salt & pepper
1 lb ground lamb or beef
2 T flour
1 beef bullion cube
1 c boiling water
1 T worchestershire sauce
1 can of creamed corn
4 potatoes, cubed
milk & butter
paprika
1/4 c grated cheddar cheese

1. In a large pot, boil water and add potatoes. When ready, mash with milk and butter and season with salt & pepper. Set aside. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

2. In a large oven proof casserole pot, turn heat on to medium-hot and heat oil. Add in onions, garlic, celery and carrots and stir about until onions are translucent. Add meat and brown until no longer pink and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour over meat mixture and stir about well to cook flour. Add in worcherstershire and crumble in a bullion cube and add in 1 cup of boiling water. Stir until a thick gravy forms. Turn off stove.

3. Pour can of corn over meat mixture. Do not mix in as we're going to create layers. Now carefully drop spoonfulls of mashed potato over the corn layer and gently spread about. With a fork, run the tines over the potato to create little rivets which will help to brown the top layer. Sprinkle with paprika and a little grated cheese. Put into a hot oven and bake for 30 minutes or until the cheese melts and gets bubbly and the tops of the potato browns slightly.