Venison and Guinea Fowl Game Pie Recipe
Game Pie Has Many Possible Ingredients
Different people will have access to different types of wild game, depending upon their location and very often upon the time of year. The good news is that there are any number of combinations which can be employed in the making of a game pie and this is merely one idea that works very well. The key is in knowing how a particular game item requires to be cooked and how the different types of meat can asa result successfully be combined in a pie. One type of meat cooked to succulent perfection and another either over or under cooked will of course spoil the enjoyment of the entire dish.
How to Cook a Guinea Fowl
This pie requires the meat from half a guinea fowl. One option (used in this instance) is to enjoy a guinea fowl meal for one on the first night and reserve half the meat - stored in the refrigerator - for making the pie the following night. To the right is one suggestion for serving the freshly roast guinea fowl, along with a simple plum sauce, roast potatoes and broccoli. You can find the full recipe simply by clicking on the image.
It may be of course that you simply wish to double the quantities included in this recipe and make a larger pie!
The accompaniments served with the pie in this instance are of course only suggestions. They can be varied according to taste and/or availability of ingredients. This combination was very enjoyable, however, and is definitely recommended.
Ingredients
- 3/4 lb diced vension haunch
- Meat from 1/2 a guinea fowl (already cooked)
- Olive oil
- 1 medium carrot
- 1 stick of celery
- 1 small white onion
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- Salt and pepper
- 1 pint chicken or game stock
- 12 fingerling potatoes
- 1/2 pound puff pastry
- Beaten egg for glazing pastry
- 1 tbsp goose fat
- 12 chantenay carrots
- 12 tender broccoli stems
- Little bit of butter
- 1 tbsp freshly chopped coriander/cilantro
Instructions
- Pour a little olive oil in to a large pot and gently heat. Add the venison meat and brown and seal, stirring with a wooden spoon.
- Peel the carrot, top, tail and roughly chop. Wash, top and tail the celery stick and chop. Peel the onion and finely slice. Add all three to the browned venison meat and season with salt, pepper and the dried thyme. Stir well to combine before adding the stock. Bring to a very gentle simmer, cover and cook for two hours, stirring occasionally and (if necessary) topping up the liquid with a little boiling water. When the venison is tender, switch off the heat and leave to cool completely.
- Wash the fingerling potatoes and cut each in half lengthways. Put them in a pot of cold, salted water and bring the water to a boil. Reduce the heat to simmer for six to seven minutes, just until the skin and outer flesh can be seen to be starting to come loose. Drain and return top the empty pot. Allow them to steam for about five minutes to dry out before covering and leaving to cool.
- If you haven't already done so, pick the guinea fowl meat off the bones in bite sized chunks. Stir through the cooled vension, vegetables and stock and pour the mixture carefully in to a 10" by 7" pie dish. Roll out the puff pastry on a floured surface that it is slightly bigger than the pied dish. Lay it over the filling and crimp around the edges. Glaze with beaten egg and cut a steam vent in the centre. Bake in the oven (preheated to 400F/200C) for forty to forty-five minutes until the pastry is beautifully risen and golden.
- Approximately fifteen minutes before the pie is ready, put the goose fat in to a dish large enough to accommodate the potatoes in a single layer. Put this in the oven to melt and heat the fat.
- When the pie is ready, take it from the oven and set aside to rest for fifteen minutes. Put the potatoes in to the dish of hot fat and stir around carefully with a wooden spoon to evenly coat them all in the fat. Put the dish back in to the oven, turning up the heat to 450F/220C, for fifteen to twenty minutes until crisp and golden.
- When the potatoes are in the oven, put the chantenay carrots in a pot of cold salted water and bring the water to a boil. Simmer for ten minutes. The tender stem broccoli should be added to a pot of boiling, salted water for five minutes.
- Drain the carrots and return them to the empty pot with some butter and the coriander/cilantro. Carefully stir. Drain the broccoli.
- Take the potatoes from the oven and use a slotted spoon to transfer them to a plate covered with kitchen paper to drain.
- Cut the pastry of the pie in to quarters and sit on a holding plate. Divide the filling between four plates and sit a piece of pastry on top of each serving. Add the accompaniments and serve immediately.
Venison and Guinea Fowl Game Pie with Roasted Potatoes, Chantenay Carrots and Tender Stem Broccoli
