All Easy Recipes. Cook all that you can cook. Game Pie
 
What You Need:            (To Serve: 4 to 6)
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  • 2 tablespoons butter, softened, plus 2 tablespoons butter
  • 2 one-pound partridges, quartered, or substitute 2 one-pound grouse, pheasant, woodcock or other game birds
  • 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 1¼ cups chicken stock, fresh or canned
  • ¾ pound veal scallops, cut ¼ inch thick
  • Salt
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 4 slices lean bacon
  • ¼ pound mushrooms, coarsely chopped
  • 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped shallots, or substitute 1 tablespoon coarsely chopped scallions
  • 1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley
  • 2 teaspoons grated lemon peel
  • ½ recipe rough puff pastry
  • 1 egg lightly beaten with 1 tablespoon milk

  • How To Cook:
    1. Preheat the oven to 425°. Using a pastry brush, coat the bottom and sides of a 1½-quart casserole or baking dish at least 2 inches deep with the 2 tablespoons of softened butter and set aside.

    2. Wash the partridges under cold running water and pat the pieces completely dry with paper towels. In a heavy 10- to 12-inch skillet, melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter in the 2 tablespoons of oil over moderately high heat.

    3. When the foam begins to subside, brown the partridges a few pieces at a time, starting them skin side down and turning them with tongs. As the pieces become a deep golden brown, remove them to a plate.

    4. Pour the stock into the skillet and bring it to a boil over high heat, meanwhile scraping in any brown particles clinging to the bottom and sides of the pan. Boil briskly for a minute or so; set the skillet aside off the heat.

    5. Line the bottom of the baking dish with the veal scallops, sprinkle them with salt and a few grindings of pepper, and lay the bacon slices side by side over the veal.

    6. Arrange the partridge pieces skin side up on top. Mix the mushrooms, shallots, parsley, lemon peel, ¼ teaspoon of salt and a few grindings of pepper together in a bowl and spread the mixture evenly over the partridge. Pour in the stock that you had set aside.

    7. On a lightly floured surface roll the pastry out into a rough rectangle no more than 1/8 inch thick. Then cut two strips, each about 12 inches long and ½ inch wide, from the ends.

    8. Lay the strips end to end around the rim of the baking dish and press them firmly into place. Moisten them lightly with a pastry brush dipped in cold water.

    9. Drape the remaining pastry over the rolling pin, lift it up, and unfold it over the baking dish. Trim off the excess with a small, sharp knife and, with the tines of a fork or your fingers, crimp the pastry to secure it to the rim of the dish.

    10. Gather the scraps of pastry into a ball, reroll and cut them into simple leaf and flower shapes; moisten one side with the egg-and-milk mixture and arrange them decoratively on the pie. Then brush the entire pastry surface with the remaining egg-and-milk mixture, and cut a 1-inch round hole in the center of the pie.

    11. Bake the pie in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes, reduce the heat to 375° and bake for 40 minutes longer, or until the crust is golden brown. Serve at once directly from the baking dish.


     
     
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