Today is Canadian Thanksgiving! It's basically the same as American Thanksgiving, except it's on a Monday, it's in October, and they don't have to deal with Black Friday. Also, they probably wash down their stuffing and mashed potatoes with a glass of bagged milk.
So, the first thing I thought of for a Canadian meal was Kraft Dinner, which is literally just Easy Mac. Distinctively Canadian, sure. Fun and unique? No.
Tonight, the main course was a tourtière, a meat pie from the French Canadian side of things, and dessert was Nanaimo bars, courtesy of the Vancouver area.
Usually a tourtière includes meat with onion and mashed potato. I've actually made a version of this before from a recipe I found in a vegetarian magazine. That version used mushrooms, carrots, and other veggies in place of the meat, and a cauliflower puree in place of the potatoes. I have that recipe written down and was planning on using it, but once I actually looked up what a tourtière actually was, I realized that to be a bit more authentic I should probably use some meat substitute. The recipe I used called for a mixture of pork and beef, so I used some beef-less crumbles and some sausage-less ground sausage.
The "meat" and onions were cooked with a pinch each of various fall spices: nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon. Meanwhile, instead of using plain mashed potatoes, I boiled some sweet potatoes. I had two large ones left over from something else, and I thought it would taste better without going too outside of the lines.
I had to make a shortcrust dough for the pastry crust, which I've done quite a few times. But I've never had to roll one out with a splint on my finger. It was difficult. I still came out with a beautiful dough, though.
Just kidding, it came out fine. Especially considering I only added half the flour I needed to before cutting in the butter and had to incorporate it late, which can be disastrous. Somehow I do better on pastry I've never made before than ones I've made many times.
Once the dough was rolled out, the filling went in.
And the other half was layered on top, brushed with egg wash and maple syrup, and baked to perfection. I tried to cut a pretty leaf as a vent hole but it kind of looks like a Mii face. Should've tried a maple leaf pattern.
Another shot of the crispy, buttery crust and that weird vaguely face-shaped creature carved into it.
The combination of spices with the sweet potato and "meat" mixture was pretty dang good.
If juggling making a good shortcrust pastry while also cooking the filling while also having a lacerated tendon that was sewn back together wasn't hard enough, I also had to make the dessert.
Nanaimo bars are kind of like Mounds bars with a few extra ingredients. They're named after the city of Nanaimo, located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. This recipe starts with making some graham cracker crumbs, pictured above.
Next, butter, sugar, and cocoa are combined and heated in a double boiler.
After adding an egg, the mixture gets stirred and heated until thickened, after which it's added to the graham cracker crumbs and some flaked coconut.
That mixture is pressed into the bottom of a baking dish to form the base layer of the bars.
Next, the middle filling is basically like a buttercream icing. Usually it is thickened a bit more with some custard powder, but I just used instant pudding mix. Apparently the effect is very similar.
While the middle layer set in the fridge, I set to work on the final layer, a chocolate ganache. I set up my double boiler again to melt some semi-sweet chocolate with a bit of butter. There's a lot of butter in this recipe.
After the chocolate on top set, I was able to slice them into squares. I might end up cutting them into even smaller squares to share with co-workers, because man are these things rich. It's like a butter and sugar bomb. No, I don't have a keto-friendly version of this recipe, so don't even ask.
That picture above is not a serving size. That's at least 3 times the amount you should put into your body at once. They're good though! I am not the biggest fan of flaked/shredded coconut but honestly I think the coconut is probably the star of this recipe. It helps balance out the ridiculous sweetness going on in the rest of the bar.
Luckily I won't be creating any more desserts for a while. I think after the black forest cake and these things, I'm ready for just vegetables. However, I must say that if you can make pastry, a tourtière is a great fall or winter dish to have in your repertoire. And consider adding Nanaimo bars to the list of relatively easy "no-bake" desserts to bring to family functions, like, say Canadian Thanksgiving!
Recipes Used: Nanaimo Bars // personal recipe for tourtiere
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