CHRISTMAS VENISON, PHEASANT, PARTRIDGE AND PIGEON FRENCH GAME HOT WATER CRUST PIE WITH A CHICKEN BRANDY LIVER PATE LAYER AND PARTRIDGE STOCK SET JELLY

Glorious hand raised hot water crackling flavoured crust game pie layered with local venison, pigeon, pheasant, partridge and a boozy brandy chicken liver pate, this is not only a show stopper pie in presentation but in flavour too, all the rich game layers are sumptuously gorgeous.

There’s nothing I love more than baking and making edible gifts for Christmas for family and friends, it is such a joy to give a pie wrapped in brown baking paper with jute string bow and a bouquet of rosemary, thyme, bay and holly on top.  My rustic (this gives me the excuse to not be perfect!) pies are filled with the best local ingredients and love, I make these pies on Christmas eve eve and I allow myself all the time I need, I could make these quicker but that’s not the point, it is lovely to take my time and I sometimes even pour myself a tipple too!

Pie filling

Ingredients 

6 pigeon breasts

6 pheasant breasts

400g venison loin

1 whole rabbit

2 shallots fine diced

1 knob of butter

6 sage leaves
 Small bunch of thyme
Small bunch of parsley

Good pinch of salt & black pepper

Good pinch of mace

Pinch of cayenne pepper
Pre heat oven 200 degrees

Dice all the game into inch square pieces and place in a large bowl add the softened shallots, chopped sage, thyme and parsley along with a generous pinch of sea salt, ground black pepper and mace, mix well, leave to marinate while you make the hot water pastry.

Homemade lard with Jelly

1 kg back fat & skin

To make your own roasted pork crackling flavoured and back fat lard, pop to your local farm shop or butchers and ask for a kilo of back fat and any left over skin to roast at 200 degrees for around one hour, pour off  the rendered down lard into a loaf tin and set in the fridge, this makes the most gorgeous flavoured honest lard and adds a huge depth of crackling flavour to your hot water crust and if your lucky there will be a layer of jelly once the lard has set in the fridge.

Hot water crust

Ingredients 

120g lard

100g butter

200ml water

550g plain flour

Big pinch of salt
2 eggs beaten

Melt the butter and lard in the water and bring up to a simmer, don't let it boil.  In a large bowl whisk, or sieve the flour and add the salt, make a dip in the centre and add the beaten eggs, using a knife cut the eggs into the flour roughly, add the hot water butter lard mix and gently bring together, knead for one minute to bring to a shinny glossy dough ball, wrap in paper and chill for thirty minutes if you are going to roll out the pastry to line the tin, if you are going to use the old fashioned method of hand raising the pastry in the tin use immediately, directions below.

The French Raised Pie Tin

I love old fashioned pie tins from history, this is incredibly plain compared to the pie moulds from the 16th century onwards which were incredibly decorated.  

Now for the reason your pie tin comes in three sections!  Once the pie is cooked you gently remove the clips that hold the tin together and remove the sides of the pie tin, I always find this part nerve wrecking as you don't want the sides of the pie to split or all the lovely juices will run out and compromise the quality of the pie.  Egg wash the sides and pop back into the oven for fifteen minutes to set the glaze and brown the sides.

Setting The Pastry in the Tin
Grease your french pie tin or tin you are using with lard or butter then either roll out your pastry to about the thickness of two pound coins and lay into the the tin and push the pastry into all the folds of the mould, or you can form a ball, keep back 1/4 for the lid, then with the just made hot water crust, place in the centre of the tin and then push the pastry flat on the bottom which will make the pastry rise up, push this into the sides the mould until the pie tin is lined with the pastry.

Chicken Liver Pate Layer

Ingredients 

200g chicken livers

1 shallot diced
1 clove of garlic grated

1 tbsp butter

1 sprig thyme

50ml brandy

50ml double cream
1 small pinch mace

Sea salt and black pepper

Next make the liver pate by gently sweat off the shallot and garlic in the butter and add the cleaned chicken livers and brown off on a high heat for two minutes, add the brandy and reduce down by half, lower the heat and season with the salt, pepper, mace add the thyme.  Cool slightly and place all the  ingredients in the blender and pulse, add the double cream until you have a smooth pate, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed.  For Christmas I add a grating of clementine zest.

To Assemble The Pie

Pack the game mix firmly in to half of your pie case, place a generous layer of your chicken liver pate and then finish filling the pie case with the rest of the mixed game, with a little egg wash brush the top and place on the lid, crimp the top by placing your left hand or right hand thumb and first finger at the edge of the pastry and using your other hand first finger push the pastry into the other fingers creating a crimp, repeat all the way round.  I like to decorate my pie with some leaves on top and the centre of the pie lid make a hole the size of a pea, this will be for the jelly once the pie has cooked and cooled.  Glaze with egg wash and cook in the oven for 30 minutes at 200 degrees then lower the oven temperature to 150 degrees and cover the top of the pie with foil, cook for another hour.

This is when you now remove the clips that hold the tin together and remove the sides of the pie tin, I always find this part nerve wrecking as you don't want the sides of the pie to split or all the lovely juices will run out and compromise the quality of the pie.  Egg wash the sides and pop back into the oven for fifteen minutes to set the glaze and brown the sides.

The Jelly

1 partridge carcass

2 pigs trotters optional

sea salt

black pepper

2 bay leaves

1 sprig of thyme

500ml water

Straining the jelly stock through a jelly bag.

Glorious tasty natural stock jelly.

To make the jelly you can do this two ways, I like to simmer the partridge carcass with onion, carrot, celery, bay and thyme you can also add 2 pig trotters from your local farm shop or butcher along with 500ml of water with a pinch of sea salt and black pepper,  simmer on a low heat with the lid on for a couple of hours and until the liquid has reduced by half, leave to cool then pour or syringe into the pie until the jelly has filled all the gaps around the pie and is full to the hole.  The other way is to take a tin of game or beef consume and bring to a simmer take off the heat and add a couple of sheets of gelatin stir until dissolved, leave to cool and then pour into the pie.

CHRISTMAS BREAKFAST FOR FEEDING A CROWD

Baked Eggs, Ham, Spinach and Cream Super Easy Crowd Pleaser

This is a wonderful decadent breakfast dish, beautiful Wiltshire ham, butter braised onions, garlic, mushrooms and spinach set with a rich egg, double cream and parmesan sauce, every spoonful is a sumptuous joy, keep these portioned to a standard small ramekin as they are so rich you can’t eat any more than one!  This is a great easy crowd pleaser keeping holiday pressure to a minimum, you can easily cook 12-24 in one easy batch.

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 16-18 minutes

Ingredients 

(makes 6)

200g fresh spinach

2 cloves garlic chopped

1 shallot finely diced

25g butter

1 glug olive oil

200g chopped mushrooms 

200g torn fresh ham of the bone

750ml double cream

6 organic eggs

Himalayan sea salt 

Fresh ground black pepper 

Pre-heat your oven to 180 C / 356 F, place a large deep roasting tin 3/4 filled with boiling water in the oven.  Heat a skillet medium hot, add the butter and olive oil sauté the onions and garlic for around five minutes then add the mushrooms for a further couple of minutes, take off the heat and add the spinach, stir through to wilt, add the ham and stir in, divide between the six ramekins crack one egg into each ramekin then top up with cream, season with a hint of salt and pepper.  

Place each ramekin in to your bain marie roasting tin in the oven and bake for 14 minutes for soft gooey runny eggs or 18 minutes for just set whites with a mollet just set yolk.  That’s it, remove and serve immediately, these are almost as good as leftovers cold from the fridge.

CHRISTMAS PORK PIE

French Pie Tin Show Stopper

Glorious hot water roasted crackling lard pork pie, a beautiful tasting traditional pork pie that every mouthful sings of great times shared with family and friends.   Our own Organic raised loved and rootling pork seasoned with fresh sage, thyme and bay from the garden and hint of old fashioned mace. Home made jelly or Not! and a gorgeous hot water crust made with our own roast crackling rendered down lard this pie is a show stopper.  For me this is a beautiful way to celebrate Christmas and New Years and I love to make these as gifts for friends and family to enjoy over the festive season, love in every bite.

A Not Jellied Pork Pie !

Cooking these pie’s for family and friends as gifts at Christmas is a lovely time for me where I get to be in the kitchen for most of the day, I start by getting the jelly cooking first, if you are into jelly! I’m not, my family are and through food law I respect that jelly is a important honest historic part of a pork pie and as I do nose to tail cooking this is a tradition I have loved learning, but if like me your not in to jelly just leave it out, it’s personal just go with it, however I f you are into jelly like so many of my London family then you will need to start this cooking day with the jelly, this is so that later we can jelly the cooked pork pie and leave to set overnight in the fridge ready for the excitement of sharing, giving and eating with everyone the next day.  Traditionally this pie would take 2-3 days to make, first day you make the pie, second day jelly the pies and leave to set overnight ready to sell the next day.

Ingredients 

(serves 6-8)

Hot Water Crust Pastry

600g strong plain flour

2 beaten eggs

7g Himalayan sea salt 

5g white pepper

1 tsp fresh chopped thyme

110g lard

110g butter

240ml water

The Pork Pie

800g pork shoulder diced

200g belly pork minced

200g bacon minced

10 sage leaves finely chopped

4 sprigs thyme chopped

1/2 tsp mace

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1 tsp black pepper

The Jelly

1 pork hock or 2 trotters

1 ltr water

1 onion skin on halved

1 carrot rough chopped

1/2 stick celery 

1 garlic clove bashed

8 peppercorns 

1 bay leaf

1 tsp mustard powder

1 pinch celery salt

2 leaves gelatine (optional) 

First get the jelly underway in a pressure cooker for 1/12 hrs or casserole dish for 3-4 hrs place all the ingredients in your pan, bring to a simmer and place on the lid, leave to cook for the time needed for your cooking vessel.  Once cooked remove the trotters or pork hock, the latter makes a wonderful dinner with some buttery vinegar mashed potatoes and pease pudding or a suet bacon and onion pudding roll.

Now to check if your pork jelly will set without the need for gelatine, which it should once cooled, place a saucer in the freezer for at least 30 minutes, take a tablespoon on the Cooke jelly stock and place on the cold saucer on your work top, leave for two minutes and assess the thickness of the set cooled jelly.  If too running then add the gelatine leaves by soaking in water to soften for 5 minutes and then stirring in off the heat.  Leave your jelly to one side while you bake the pork pie.

Next make the pork pie filling mix all the ingredients together and reserve to one side to infuse their flavours while you make the hot water crust pastry.

To make the hot water crust is really simple place the lard, butter and water in a saucepan and melt without allowing a simmer, in a large mixing bowl place the flour, salt and ribbon through the beaten eggs, make a well in the centre and pour in the hot lard and butter mix, using a spoon gently bring together until just combined, using your hand knead the mix for a minute until a smooth ish ball is formed.  Take 2/3 of the dough and place in your tin pressing the sides up and forming the base, place in your pork pie meat, lay your pastry lid on the top and crimp the edges, I like to take my left hand ready to pinch the pastry from the underneath of the tin lip and pastry, while my right hand will push the top pie crust pastry in to the two pinch fingers, this gives a great crust finish.  Make a hole in the centre of the pie to allow steam out and for adding the jelly later and decorate with leaves around the hole.

Place the pork pie in a pre heated oven 200 C for half an hour, then lower the heat to 160 C for one hour, remove the pork pie from the oven and as with these French pie tins they are comprised of 3 pieces held together with clips, remove the two sides of the pie tin carefully, then glaze the whole pie with egg wash and place back in the oven to cook for a further 10-15 minutes.  Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool, to fill with your homemade jelly use a large syringe or tiny funnel and jug and pour the jelly in until it reaches the top of the hole then store in the fridge overnight to set the jelly, then your good to go, enjoy this glorious pork pie it is a outstanding pie.