Newsletter August 2003
Modern Country Living - Domestic Bliss
Game On: Easy as Pie!
August is the best part of the summer on the Isle
of Wight. Cowes Week attracts all the B.Y.T. and gives us all
fantastic eye candy! The children are well and truly into the
beach routine and don’t even taste the sand it the sandwiches
any more. I was talking to the wonderful Sue Brownrigg who supplies
us with our chickens today and she was telling me how after a
hard days’ slaughtering yesterday she and her husband and two
boys jumped in the car drove down to the sea got out the kayaks
and messed about in the water for a few hours before popping out
to their lobster pot and hauling in the days catch of 3 very good
sized lobsters and a crab for supper back at the farm. I’ll bet
there are very few farmers who could end their day that way. It
made me start to think how really lucky my family are to grow
up surrounded by surf and turf.
This months’ recipe is to help encourage you to
pack up your family and go for a picnic. It does take a few days
to prepare but worth it.
Picnic Pie
You do need to start this pie a few days in advance!
Pastry:
450g plain flour
225g butter
1tsp salt
2 large egg yolks
70-85ml ice cold water
First make the pastry. Sift the flour and salt into a food processor
bowl. Add the butter and pulse for a few seconds so that the butter
is “rubbed into” the flour. Slowly add the water a bit at a time;
you may not need all of it, until it forms a dough. Wrap it in
cling film and refrigerate overnight.
Pie mix:
When game is in season use any and all that is available
and replace the pork with it.
250g lean pork, cubed
200g lean veal, cubed
85gg pork back fat, cubed
100g chicken breast, cubed
85g pancetta, cubed
Salt and pepper
Fresh thyme
2-3 tbsp brandy for deglazing
500 - 600ml homemade chicken stock made from a chicken carcass
A knob of butter
Sunflower oil
1 egg
Heat up about a tablespoon of oil and the butter
in a large deep sided pan. Brown all of the meat pieces, including
the pancetta; a batch at a time so that they truly brown - don’t
over load the pan otherwise the meat will not brown. Move the
browned meat to a plate and deglaze the bottom of the pan with
the brandy scraping up all the caramelized bits. Set aside.
Roll the pastry out into a circle approximately
3cm thick. Grease a 20.5cm round cake tin with a removable base
and deep sides. Cut a triangle out of the pastry and set a side.
Cone the rest of the pastry and fit it into the cake tin letting
the pastry overhang the sides. Press it well into the sides. Spoon
in the browned meat and sprinkle over the thyme leaves and season
with salt and pepper. Pour in any juices from the deglazed pan
and then roll out the triangle to make a lid. Cover the meat with
the lid and fold in the over hanging pastry to meet the lid top
so that the filling is sealed in. Brush the top with a beaten
egg and make a generous sized hole in the centre to allow steam
to escape and to fill with the stock after it has been cooked.
Pre heat the oven to 190c and bake the pie for 25-30 minutes until
the crust is set and it starts to colour. Turn the temperature
of the oven down to 180c and continue to cook the pie for a further
1-1 ½ hours or until the meat is cooked. You can check
by using a meat thermometer. If the pie colours too much cover
it with some foil. Cool the pie completely before turning it out.
It is best to make this pie a couple of days in advance to let
the flavours develop.
Tip:
For trips to the beach always keep a soft bristle
brush in the car and brush your feet with it before you get in.
The sand will slide off!
This article by Amy Willcock appears
in The Shooting Gazette August 2003, and is reproduced here with
permission.
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