Chutneys are a delicious sweet - savoury compliment for cheeses, and meats such as chicken or pork. Feel free to adjust heat level to suit your own taste.

Preparation Info:
Preparation Time: 30 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes
Makes: five 1-cup (250 mL) jars

Ingredients:
7 cups (1.75 L) chopped peeled Ontario Apples
(McIntosh, Golden Delicious, Empire or Idared)
2 cups (500 mL) chopped Ontario Onions
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) diced Ontario Sweet Red Peppers
1-1/2 cups (375 mL) diced Ontario Sweet Yellow Peppers
3 cloves Ontario Garlic, minced
1 tsp (5 mL) salt
1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cloves
1/2 tsp (2 mL) crushed hot red pepper flakes
2 cups (500 mL) packed brown sugar
1 cup (250 mL) apple cider vinegar
2/3 cup (150 mL) currants

Preparation Instructions:
In Dutch oven, combine apples, onions, red and yellow peppers, garlic, salt, cloves and hot pepper flakes. Stir in sugar and vinegar. Bring to boil over high heat, stirring often. Reduce heat and boil gently for 30 minutes, stirring often.

Stir in currants. Reduce heat and simmer for about 15 minutes or until thickened, stirring often.

Ladle into sterilized canning jars to within 1/2 inch (1 cm) of rim. Top with prepared new sealer lids. Apply jar rings just until fingertip tight (do not over tighten). Wipe jars if necessary. Place in boiling water, with tops covered by at least 1 inch (2.5 cm) water. Boil for 10 minutes. Remove to drain on tea towel.

Lids will vacuum seal as they cool. Test lids by pressing in centre (will not move). Do not re-tighten lids. Store any unsealed jars in refrigerator and use within 1 month. Keep sealed jars in cool place.

Nutritional Information:
1 Serving (2 tbsp/25 mL)
Carbohydrates: 12.0 grams
Calories: 45

 

 

by Cher Guest
It was the holiday season of 1976 when I was first introduced to Theresa and her delicious tourtiere. Theresa was my good
friend’s mother and this was just the first of many holiday parties that my friend held every year. When the buffet supper was served I selected a piece of the aromatic meat pie and was hooked from the first bite.

Although Theresa was happy to share her recipe with me, like
many excellent cooks of her generation she had never written
anything down. She cooked everything by taste and “feel”. I am so glad that I persisted in trying to replicate Theresa’s delicious pie, although her pastry was far superior to anything I could produce.

Theresa was from rural Quebec and traditionally this pie would
be part of her family’s Christmas celebration. She said that often her family would have tourtiere when they returned from midnight mass.

Theresa passed away in 1998 and I think of her often; particularly at this time of year when I make as many as twelve of her pies to give to friends. I usually serve it with mashed potatoes and peas. Enjoy!

Ingredients:
1.5 lbs lean minced pork (.681 kg)
2 medium onions chopped
1 clove garlic minced
1/2 tsp cloves
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp savory
2 tbsp parsley

Saute onions and garlic in 2 tbsp oil.
Add meat and spices and sauté until pink is gone.
Add and cook on medium heat for 30 minutes.
Cool for 10 minutes and spoon into bottom crust.
Add top crust and slit for steam.

Bake for 10 minutes at 400 and for 40 minutes at 350.

Should be made a few days before using.
Freezes well for several months. Thaw before baking.

In France the tourtiere pie-dish was a kitchen utensil for cooking pigeon and other birds. The contents of the dish were known as ‘piece tourtiere’ and during the first years in New France these distinctive words were used. Over the years the word ‘tourtiere’ came to mean a pate of fowl or game cooked and seasoned according to a special household recipe in the family stew pan, for into it went not merely turtle-doves but every kind of edible bird. Every housewife possessed her own secret recipe, jealously preserved from generation to generation. It was in this way that some venturesome housewives began to prepare ‘pieces tou-tieres’ not only with birds but with the meat of both wild and domestic animals.
Such recipes held additional appeal since they provided more filling and sustaining meals. In more modern times the recipes generally get away from game and use pork as the primary meat.