Easy pies

[Quixote]

I quite often find myself with a mixture of birds for the pot, & was looking for something a wee bit different a while ago

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/Quixote_01/DSCF1258.jpg


http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/Quixote_01/DSCF1261.jpg

Once sauteed along with some shallots, garlic, mushroom, smoked bacon, rosemary, thyme & sage leaves, the whole lot went into a mixing bowl along with a tablespoon of mustard, peas & sweetcorn. Bread sauce was added to keep the whole lot nice & moist, & a good twist of pepper went in too.

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/Quixote_01/DSCF1264.jpg

I like to use individual pie dishes, but you could make the whole lot up as one pie if you liked

http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/Quixote_01/DSCF1267.jpg

Each one got a puff pastry lid, egg-wash, & 25 minutes in a hot oven.....................et voila


http://i83.photobucket.com/albums/j315/Quixote_01/DSCF1269.jpg


We eat a lot of game, but there's no reason why you couldn't use chicken if you prefer? And it'd be a great way of using the meat from the thighs if you want to keep the breasts for something else :044:

Incidentally if you take them out of the oven after only 15 minutes or so, they can go into the freezer, & the pastry won't get ruined during reheating

[Meerkat]

stu - you sure you're not a chef :045:

:046: Never thought bout making pies and only cooking for 15 min and freezing them - so that is great will try that thanks :046:

[Pink Gundog]

The sad thing is, game is not readily available to all, if it is its too dam expensive :063:

[Meerkat]

The sad thing is, game is not readily available to all, if it is its too dam expensive :063:


yep you can say that again :069:

[Quixote]

That really is the sad truth, isn't it? I've got a bee in my bonnet about the crap supermarkets charge us the earth for, and most of it is either from Europe or (seafood & lamb in particular) frozen & inported from the other side of the world while our own farming & food industries suffer under ridiculous constraints.

Game isn't immune from this either................the fact that supermarkets get away with peddling food that's mass-produced under sometimes quite horrendous conditions (2-for-a-fiver chickens, anyone?) while game dealers can pay as little as 50p a brace for pheasant utterly baffles me. I recently saw frozen pheasant from Eastern Europe in a supermarket at £8 each!!!!! What the hell is going on on this country if shoots all over the country are forced to practically give our own birds away, but a huge profit can be made on the same product that's processed, frozen & then imported? I've even heard of shoots burying hundreds of shot birds because there 'isn't a market for them'. What utter rubbish! If game was more widely available & priced realistically I'm convinced more people would go out of their way to try it..................it's much lower in fat, higher in protein, and far tastier than most people would think. The sad fact is supermarkets would prefer to play on the belief that game is a premium product that should continue to command high prices, rather than actually offer something that's both healthy, cheap, and probably more morally-justifiable than intensively-reared chicken & pork.

S'cuse rant :Z

[Meerkat]

You forgot to add that most of it is organic and the supermarkets are doubling prices for what they call organic:056:

and game is also fresher when you can get it - we used to get a brace every now and then from the shoot around us but they have stopped the syndicate now - hence no shooting and no brace

I grow organic veg here and it tastes so much better when you go out at 10am pick it and then prepare it for a meal at 12pm :044:

[Quixote]

Next time I'm out I'll make sure I keep a couple of brace of pigeon back for you :044: I doubt I'll get out again this season for gamebirds, but it'll whet your appetite for next season!

[Pink Gundog]

That really is the sad truth, isn't it? I've got a bee in my bonnet about the crap supermarkets charge us the earth for, and most of it is either from Europe or (seafood & lamb in particular) frozen & inported from the other side of the world while our own farming & food industries suffer under ridiculous constraints.

Game isn't immune from this either................the fact that supermarkets get away with peddling food that's mass-produced under sometimes quite horrendous conditions (2-for-a-fiver chickens, anyone?) while game dealers can pay as little as 50p a brace for pheasant utterly baffles me. I recently saw frozen pheasant from Eastern Europe in a supermarket at £8 each!!!!! What the hell is going on on this country if shoots all over the country are forced to practically give our own birds away, but a huge profit can be made on the same product that's processed, frozen & then imported? I've even heard of shoots burying hundreds of shot birds because there 'isn't a market for them'. What utter rubbish! If game was more widely available & priced realistically I'm convinced more people would go out of their way to try it..................it's much lower in fat, higher in protein, and far tastier than most people would think. The sad fact is supermarkets would prefer to play on the belief that game is a premium product that should continue to command high prices, rather than actually offer something that's both healthy, cheap, and probably more morally-justifiable than intensively-reared chicken & pork.

S'cuse rant :Z

I sooooooooooooooo agree :052:

[Meerkat]

Next time I'm out I'll make sure I keep a couple of brace of pigeon back for you :044: I doubt I'll get out again this season for gamebirds, but it'll whet your appetite for next season!


Thanks - i'd appreciate that :044: oooo does that mean i have to make sure Purdie comes back from here tomorrow and not Rhum :045:

[Quixote]

Yes, it does! Lol!

I'm chuffed to bits with how she's coming on. She's still at the daft pup stage, but she's showing real promise. Not done any retrieving with her yet as I don't want to ruin her, but she's starting to bring various things to me (mostly bits of wood from the firebox, slippers, lighters, fag papers, dead mice, etc etc........................) & she gets a big fuss made of her whenever she does this (although whatever she brings me generally gets replaced with her bone) Her recall needs a bit of work, but to be honest I don't expect her to be instantly perfect..............she needs time to be a pup, after all. I don't think I'll be starting any serious training for a good couple of months yet. I reckon she's going to be a topper though:044:

Shame I can't come & meet you with Jo tomorrow. I've got too many things needing attention here though (as per blinkin' usual!) Next time though

[Meerkat]

Sounds like you doing the same with her as i am with him :044:

except he has the bad habit of jumping up :063:

I'll hold you to coming next time and I'll get OH to cook lunch (no point in me cooking a roast as it's the one thing I can't do that's his job)