SERVES 2 | PREP TIME 45 mins | COOK TIME 60 mins
These enclosed puff pastry pies, also known as pithiviers, aren’t as fussy as they look. Team with creamy mashed potato or chips and lots of gravy or, if you feel like something a bit different, leave them to cool and serve with a fresh salad.
INGREDIENTS
For the pie
50g Carrot, diced
50g Onion, diced
20g Chestnuts, chopped
25g Pigeon, diced
25g Pheasant, diced
25g Partridge, chopped
2x Red skin potatoes
Ready made pastry
Fresh thyme
1x Egg yolk
1. Bake the potato
Bake the red skin potatoes in the oven until soft (approximately 35 minutes), scoop out the potato from the skin and mash up in a bowl. It doesn’t need to be smooth; a lovely, chunky texture will help your pie.
2. Dice ingredients
Meanwhile, dice all the meat and remaining vegetables into 1cm cubes, then combine everything with the mashed potato. So long as you’ve chopped everything small enough, all the ingredients will cook through while the pie’s in the oven.
3. Season
Season well with salt and pepper and sprinkle over some fresh thyme leaves.
4. Roll pastry
Roll out the pastry until it’s roughly the thickness of a pound coin. Place a saucer on the rolled pastry and cut around it to make 4 circles.
5. Add filling
Spoon the game mixture into the centre of two of the pastry circles, leaving a good inch around the edge to seal the lids.
6. Seal pastry
Brush the clear inch space with egg yolk and place a second pastry circle on top of each pie. Using a fork, press down around the sides of the pastry to seal.
7. Decorate
Use a knife to decorate the top of the pies with any pattern you like, then brush with egg yolk.
8. Heat the oven
Heat the oven to 170°C and bake for 25mins until golden brown.
9. Serve
Remove from the baking tray and serve straight away.