French-Canadian cuisine

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This article was published 19/02/2025 (522 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Festival du Voyageur is underway and this week’s edition of Homemade includes a trio of classic French and French-Canadian dishes.

Find below reader recipes for Tourtière from Vicki Henderson, French Onion Soup from Janice Scott and Tarte sucre à la crème from Paulette Duguay.

Or you can head down to Whittier Park to sample the francophone fare at Festival, which ends Sunday.

Our next column in March will be all about birthday cake. Fill out the submission form at winnipegfreepress.com/homemade to share your celebratory dessert recipes.

— Eva Wasney

eva.wasney@freepress.mb.ca

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Tourtière

Ingredients

Filling

• 454 g (1 lb) ground pork
• 1 small onion, diced
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) salt
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) thyme
• 1.25 ml (¼ tsp) sage
• 1.25 ml (¼ tsp) dry mustard
• 0.6 ml (1/8 tsp) cloves
• 125 ml (½ cup) water
• 1 small potato, cooked and mashed

Pastry

• 1.25 ml (5 cups) flour
• 5 ml (1 tsp) baking powder
• 5 ml (1 tsp) salt
• 45 ml (3 tbsp) brown sugar
• 454 g (1 lb) lard
• 2 eggs
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) vinegar
• Water

Directions

For the pastry, mix dry ingredients together in a bowl. Combine eggs and vinegar, plus enough water to create 250 ml (1 cup) of liquid. Add the lard and the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and mix until the dough holds together. This recipe makes enough pastry for three pies, which can be stored in the fridge or freezer.

To make the filling, add all the ingredients, except the potato, to a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Cook uncovered for about 25 minutes or until the surplus water has reduced. Add the mashed potato and stir to combine.

Place the filling mixture in the fridge and let chill.

Roll out one-third of the pastry and add half to a pie pan. Add chilled filling to the unbaked shell and top with remaining pastry.

Preheat oven to 450 F (230 C) and bake for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F (175 C) and bake for another 20 minutes.

“My mother grew up in the West End of Winnipeg in the 1930s and 1940s. She would occasionally stay with a French-Canadian couple, good friends of her parents, who lived nearby. This tourtière recipe came from this close relationship and has become a family tradition at Christmas time for my two sisters and me. Now my son is following in our footsteps.”

— Vicki Henderson

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French Onion Soup

Ingredients

• 3 large onions, thinly sliced
• 30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
• 15 ml (1 tbsp) butter
• 5 ml (1 tsp) sugar
• 5 ml (1 tsp) salt
• 60 ml (¼ cup) dry white wine
• 1 litre (4 cups) beef stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 2.5 ml (½ tsp) thyme
• 1.35 ml (¼ tsp) black pepper
• 3 to 4 slices Swiss cheese
• 3 to 4 slices toasted bread or croutons

Directions

In a pot over medium heat, caramelize the sliced onions in the oil and butter for about 20 to 30 minutes.

Sprinkle in sugar and salt, reduce heat and let simmer for another 15 minutes. Don’t rush.

Deglaze the pot with white wine.

Stir in the beef stock, bay leaf, thyme and black pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

To serve, evenly distribute the soup in 3 or 4 oven-proof bowls.

Top with toast or croutons and place swiss cheese slice over top.

Place bowls on pan, in oven and broil for 2-3 minutes.

“French Onion Soup is always a treat in a restaurant but it is so easy to prepare at home. Elegant and inexpensive!”

— Janice Scott

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Tarte sucre à la crème (Sugar Cream Pie)

Ingredients

• 375 ml (1-½ cups) packed brown sugar
• 60 ml (¼ cup) flour
• 375 ml (1-½ cups) 35 per cent whipping cream
• 1 deep dish pie shell

Directions

Mix sugar and flour together in a bowl, removing lumps with a whisk or pastry cutter.

Stir in cream and pour batter into a deep dish pie shell. There’s a risk of bubbling over with shallow shells.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake pie for one hour. Let cool completely before cutting.

“Sugar pie is a very French-Canadian thing. When it’s Festival time, that’s when the sugar pie comes out, that’s when the Caribou comes out.”

— Paulette Duguay