a tale of 2 pies...

My Bil, is over for a weekend visit. we only get to see him a couple of times a year as he lives in the far east. 

When he comes we sometimes eat out or I cook for us all. 

Tonight I am cooking for him. As he travels with work he gets to eat foods from all over the world. so when he is with us I like to cook quite traditional English/Scottish food.

 When we were in Scotland last we picked up some nice wild venison, which I popped into the freezer. 

For lunch I made a nice Autumn Vegetable soup and for dinner we are having Venison pie. However, as LSP is intolerant to Venison and OD does not want to eat Bambi, I am making 2 pies 1 venison, 1 chicken.

I love wild venison, it is a very lean meat that is low in cholesterol and very tasty. The animals live in the wild and feed off the land. They are shot in the wild, not taken to an abbetoir. Also Scottish Venison need to be culled each year.

1st one, venison....ok so I am starting this at 3.15pm. venison is best cooked slowly, so it starts life as a casserole then will have its lid put on later. 

each pie will serve 4. 

350g cubed venison.

3 carrots

2 leeks

1/4 swede

3 small onions

2 stalks celery

6 chestnut mushrooms

handful of flour. 

oil for frying.

1/2 pint red wine

glug of vinegar

2 tsp mustard

1 teaspoon marmite

1 teaspoon nutmeg

2 stock cubes

1 teaspoon pepper. 

salt

1/2 pack of ready made puff pastry.
1/2 egg for egg wash.

I like to layer my fillings in this deep pie, this will ensure that everyone gets equal and also I think it makes a difference to how it cooks.

Start by frying the venison to brown. then when sealed on all sides take off the heat and place in a bag of flour with pepper to coat, drain the juices and place in a jug.

Fry the onions and place in the bottom of a casserole dish. 

then place the floured venison on top of the onions. 

next add a layer of thickly sliced mushrooms. 

Fry the celery and leeks together and make the next layer. 

Finally cube the swede and cut thick chunks of carrot. lightly fry then add to the pot. 

I brown all of the veg except for the mushrooms, I do not use lots of oil. the reason is that it has a positive effect on both the taste and colour of the final dish.  

In the jug with the meat juices add the mustard, marmaite, stock cubes, nutmeg and pepper. salt and a glug of vinegar. you can use red wine vinegar, I used malt. 

put the wine in the pan and de-glaze (get the bits off) then add the wine to the rest of the juices, add 1/4 pint of water then pour over the filling as well as adding 2 sticks of rosemary.

place in the oven at 180 degrees. and sit down with a cup of tea! 

ok time to get started on the next pie....

 2 chicken breasts
2 onions
1 leek
1 celery stalk
1/8 swede (about the size of the palm of your hand)
4 chestnut mushrooms
3 carrots.

1/2 pint chicken stock
dried tarragon
2 teaspoons mustard.
pinch salt/pepper


1/2 pack of ready made puff pastry.
1/2 egg for egg wash.


slice and fry onions, place on bottom of  a thick pie dish.
cut the chicken into large chunks. (this is a pie to sit and eat at the table so you will want nice big chunks to cut into) and brown in the pan, then toss into the pan some quartered chestnut mushrooms.

place over the onions then fry the celery and leek. when lightly fried add to the dish.
Finally chop the swede and carrot, lightly fry and add to the top.

this has a lighter sauce than the venison, just 1/2 pint chicken stock, mustard and tried tarragon.

Now instead I have covered this in foil to cook and will add a pastry top later, this is because of how I am cooking the venison pie.

I cooked the venison for 3 hours and the chicken was cooked for an hour before lidding.

30 mins before you need to serve, cover with puff pastry. and egg wash. The venison pie also does well with a suet pastry as well.

As you can tell, I do not trim the pastry, the square bits get tucked in. this works well if you like pastry and gives you those nice stodgy bits...

they produce a very ugly but tasty pie! If you wanted a more attractive pie, then you could cook the puff pastry seperatly then place on top of the spooned mixture.

I am serving both of these with mashed potato and shredded cabbage. as they are both rich and filling they do not need very strong veg and the mash will go nicely as a change of texture.


hope you enjoy them as much as we did.......