Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ground Ivy, Glechoma hederacea, also known as Creeping Charlie or Gill Over the Ground, is one of the first edible weeds of the season, first showing up in Middle Tennessee in February.  It is pervasive and the bane of many a lawn care company.  It is a member of the mint family (Lamiaceae), though it does not have a mint flavor.  The flavor is a mild cross between sage and rosemary.  My husband, not a fan of sage or rosemary, says it is far superior to those familiar herbs.  To get the full flavor, gather a handful and dice up and take a whiff. It is certainly a complimentary flavor in this dish.

Ground Ivy found at the woods at our local Franklin, Tennessee Recreation Center

Ground Ivy has a kidney shaped leaf with scalloped edges and a square stem (like all mints).  It has a purplish to blue flower that arrives in March.  It creeps along the ground as it grows and plants roots along the way which makes it difficult to eradicate. It thrives in shady and moist areas.  If you have it in your garden, it repels cabbage worms, cucumber beetles, and tomato hornworms.

Here’s fine rosemary, sage and thyme.  

Come, buy my Ground Ivy.

Here’s featherfew, gilly flowers and rue.

Come buy my knotted marjoram, too!

Roxburghe Ballads (1740-1804)

It has historically been used as a tea, as cooking greens and in place of hops for beer making prior to the 16th century.  Additionally it has a long herbal remedy history treating a variety of ailments including ringing in the ears, sinusitis, kidney disorders, indigestion, constipation, sciatica, tuberculosis and coughs. In large quantities it has been noted to be toxic to horses but no such reaction has been recorded in humans. Alternatively, it has also been recorded as being used as an addition to feed for livestock supposedly for good health and for increasing milk production.  Common sense requires anything remotely approaching excessive use is unwise.

Ground Ivy contains iron, potassium and vitamin C.  It also has tannins which give it a slight bitterness.  Laboratory and animal studies indicate that ground ivy may be useful for anti-inflammatory and antibiotic qualities.

This recipe also uses another early edible weed, wild garlic.  I discuss wild garlic and wild onion here.  Wild garlic is often confused with wild onion.  Actually it is more prevalent than wild onion and many who believe they are using wild onion are actually using wild garlic.  The way to tell the difference is wild garlic's stem is round and hollow, while wild onion is flat and solid.  Both are edible.  The main rule is that if it looks like and smells like wild onion/garlic, it is.  If it does not have a telling scent than do not eat it. It has been my experience that wild garlic shows up earlier in the spring than wild onion.

Wild Garlic at the Rec Center

Tourtière has traditionally been a French Canadian holiday pork pie. It is a comfort food with a unique blend of spices.  If you feel intimidated by the use of cloves and cinnamon in a pork pie, do not.  It produces a wonderful result. While I am not French nor Canadian, I love this dish!

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Wild Garlic

Wild Garlic Bulbs From Above Garlic

Chopped Ground Ivy

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Mixture Simmering for 30 Minutes

Remove Potatoes, Mash and Return to Mixture

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.

Filling in the Pastry

Pie Before Cooking

Hot Out of the Oven!

Stolen by my son before I could eat it!

Recipe all together:

Wild Garlic and Ground Ivy Tourtière (Holiday Pork Pie)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. ground pork
1 med. onion, finely chopped
1 tablespoon ground ivy, minced
1 teaspoon wild garlic bulbs, finely minced (about one large handful when picked)
3 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into six pieces each
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups chicken or turkey stock

Pastry for a double crust pie
1 egg white for glaze

Directions:

Wash and cut vegetables.

Combine all ingredients except pastry and egg white. Blend thoroughly. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring frequently. Cook until mixture is tender and moist, but not wet. Remove potato and mash with a fork. Return to meat mixture and mix well. Check seasoning.

Roll dough and line a deep 9 inch pie pan or cast iron frying pan with 1/2 of the pastry. Add the filling. Brush edges of crust with egg glaze. Roll out top crust and arrange on top. Seal, make vent holes to allow steam to escape and brush with egg glaze. Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 30-40 minutes or until crust is browned.

Cranberry and Juniper Glazed Pork Roast!

 

Juniper berries were the second wild edible I learned to forage.  They are a great addition to your kitchen seasonings.  They grow wild at our local Winstead Hill Park in Franklin, TN.  It is a rocky hill that over looks the area where the Battle of Franklin took place during the civil war.  There are numerous monuments to fallen Confederate generals.  The berry tasted slightly sweet with a distinct Gin flavor and a slight crunch. I gather them when I visit and keep a small bag of them in my freezer for recipes.

As you may know, Junipers are what gives the popular alcoholic beverage Gin it's flavor.  There are over 50 varieties of Juniper.  It is most often found as a shrub but can be a tree as in this case.  Junipers can have either pointy sharp branches or braided-like scale branches.  The berries are actually cones of the female tree and can come in different colors but most often blue.  I will call them berries for simplicity's sake.  My find was over 20 feet tall with braided-like scale branches and small blue dusty berries.  The white dust on the berries is actually yeast and can be used to make a yeast starter for bread.

Junipers in December.

The type of Juniper most often used to flavor Gin is the Juniperus communis or the Common Juniper.  It is usually found as a low spreading shrub and has needle-like leaves.  This was definitely not the trees I found.  So I was looking for a Juniper tree that grew naturally (not an unusual variety intentionally transplanted).  It also had to thrive on rocky hills.  I narrowed down the possibilities to Juniperus scopulorum (aka Rocky Mountain Cedar) or Juniperus virginiana (aka Eastern Red Cedar), two common Junipers found in the southeast United States.  Both are edible, but after closely studying the photos of the two, I believe the trees I found are Juniperus virginiana.  Go HERE for more descriptions of types of both of these trees.

There is one variety of Juniper that I found mentioned which is toxic.  It is the Juniper sabina.  It is an imported low-growing shrub and also known as a stink bush as it emits a rank odor when leaves are crushed.  It can be most commonly found in Europe and Asia.  The trees I found are not of this variety, but you should certainly confirm any that you find are not as well.

Juniper berries are considered a seasoning and a little goes a long way. It has a sharp clean flavor and goes well with meat, particularly wild game. It is also often found in many European dishes and was once used to flavor their beer. Cabbage and potatoes are also frequently seasoned with Juniper. It was used by ancient Egyptians, Greeks and native Americans for it's medicinal qualities. It has been known to treat numerous diseases such as indigestion, gout, urinary tract and bladder infections and inflammations, sore throat, and colds. It has diuretic and antiseptic qualities. It contains high natural insulin and is used as a topical medicine for skin problems such as acne and warts. It has also historically been used in traditional herbal medicine to stimulate menstruation and childbirth. Pregnant women should avoid it.

You can freeze them or dry them but the berries lose flavor the longer they are from harvest. Here is the recipe that I used which turned out great:

Cranberry and Juniper Glazed Pork Roast 

Ingredients:

1 pork loin
1 half pint or 6 tbsp cranberry sauce
1 tbsp juniper berries, crushed
1 tbsp port
salt and freshly ground black pepper
sprigs of fresh parsley and sage to garnish (optional)

Instructions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.

2. Roast the pork following the instructions on the pack (depends on the weight). I roast my pork in an Emeril cast iron smoker which imparts a fantastic flavor and makes the house smell great, however you can just bake in the oven if you prefer.  For my roast to be completely cooked, I roasted it for 1 1/2 to 2 hours covered.

Pork Roast in Cast Iron Smoker.

Heating the cast iron smoker on the stove to ignite the wood chips placed beneath the inner pan. 

Once smoke begins on the stove, place smoker in the oven and roast.

3. Meanwhile, mix together the cranberry sauce, crushed juniper berries, port and seasoning, to taste.

Junipers

Crushed junipers with spoon and half pint of cranberry sauce previously canned.

Cranberry juniper sauce.

4. Around 20 minutes before the end of the cooking time, spoon half the glaze over the pork joint, return the meat to the oven and continue to roast for the remainder of the cooking time.

Pork roast before glaze. Marks are from the cast iron lid.

Roast with glaze.

5. Transfer the pork to a warmed serving plate. Stir any meat juices into the remaining glaze, heat through and pour over the pork just before serving.

6. Garnish with sprigs of parsley and sage (optional).