Game Pie

Description

For this recipe choose older birds or woodpigeons, rather than young roasting game.

Ingredients

• 2-4 Game birds - according to size (pheasant, grouse, partridge, woodpigeon)
• 1 bouquet garni
• stock or water
• 1 large onion, chopped,
• 250 g (9 oz) mushrooms, sliced
• 60 g (2 oz) butter
• 1 rounded tablespoon plain flour
• 6 – 8 rashers bacon (optional),
• 3 – 4 Hard-boiled eggs, quartered
• salt
• pepper
• parsley
• Puff or shortcrust pastry
• Beaten egg for glazing

Directions

1. Put the birds into a pan with the bouquet garni and cover with stock or water plus salt and pepper.
2. Simmer, covered, until the meat begins to part from the bone, and can be cut away from the carcass in good-sized pieces. Arrange them in a pie dish.
3. Brown the onion and mushrooms lightly in the butter - they should be golden rather than deep brown. Stir in the flour, and enough stock to make a rich, fairly thick but not gluey sauce.
4. Simmer while you cut the rashers into convenient-sized pieces for small rolls: these should be lightly grilled, then arranged round the meat, along with the pieces of hard-boiled egg.
5. Season with salt, pepper and chopped parsley. Pour over the onion and mushroom sauce which should come to within half an inch of the top of the pie dish.
6. Cover with puff or shortcrust pastry in the usual way (puff pastry is traditionally used, but many people prefer a good shortcrust with meat).
7. Brush over with beaten egg and bake for 30 minutes at 220°C / 425°F / Gas mark 7.
8. The heat may be lowered once the pastry has risen well (puff) and is nicely browned (puff and shortcrust).