Partridge, pheasant and venison Game Pie by Laura Scott

This partridge, pheasant and venison Game Pie by Laura Scott of How To Cook Good Food is a delicious autumnal and winter warmer of a dish. “A well cooked game pie is a crowd pleaser of a dish,” says Laura. “In the past, I have always opted for either beef or chicken but since cooking this game pie I may never enjoy a pie of any other name. I used a mixture of partridge, pheasant and venison cooking it gently in the oven along with plenty of red wine amongst other goodies. The resulting pie filling was one of rich luxuriousness, buttery soft meat and earthy wine laced aromas. Add a layer of golden, flaky multi layered pastry and you have a dish that when served up on a bitterly cold day, will have you smiling with joy.”

Ingredients

• 750 g Mixed game I used mixed diced game including partridge, pheasant and venison
• ~ ~ Light olive oil for frying the game in
• ~ ~ Seasoned plain flour for dusting the game in before frying
• 2 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 tbsp Freshly chopped rosemary
• 2 ~ White onions thinly sliced
• 4 rashers Smoked streaky bacon chopped into small pieces
• 2 sticks Celery finely sliced
• 1/2 bottle Good red wine
• 25 g Butter frying the mushrooms in
• 200 g Chestnut mushrooms cut into quarters
• 2 cloves Garlic finely chopped finely chopped
• 1 pint Hot chicken stock
• 1 packet All butter puff pastry rolled out thinly
• 1 Beaten egg for glazing the pie with

Preparation

1. Begin by coating the game in seasoned flour and frying it off in batches in a large frying pan until the meat is golden - set aside. Do this in batches until you have cooked all the meat off.
2. De-glaze the frying pan with the red wine and let it bubble away until the wine is reduced to half of its volume then leave in the pan until needed.
3. Heat the 2tbsp of oil in a large oven proof casserole and fry off the onions over a medium heat for 5 minutes until they begin to soften.
4. Add in the sliced celery, bacon and rosemary and cook gently for a further 10 minutes.
5. Add the meat to the casserole along with the reduced red wine, stir it well before adding in the hot chicken stock. Bring to the boil then cover with a lid and place in the oven (140 degrees) and cook for 2 hours.
6. While the game pie filling is cooking, fry off the mushrooms with the garlic until they are lightly cooked, about 5 minutes, then set aside to add to the pie mix later.
7. After 2 hours add the mushrooms to the pie filling and place back in the oven for 30 minutes, then remove the pie filling from the oven and allow to cool completely, you could do this the day before.
8. Put the cooled pie filling into an oven proof pie dish and top with the rolled out puff pastry crimping the edges to secure it in place.
9. You could use the leftover pastry to make decorations for your pie then brush generously with the beaten egg and cook in the oven (180 degrees) for 40 minutes until golden brown.
10. Serve with greens and either mashed, boiled or roasted potatoes.