A nice Pair

Chicken, Pheasant and Cranberry Pie.

Ingredients:

800g strong white flour
200g Lard (Or lard and butter mix)
500ml Water
Salt

1 Chicken
1 Pheasant
1 punnet of cranberries
1 Small jar cranberry sauce

Aspic jelly or Gelatine

Method:

Skin and de bone the raw phesant and chicken and roughly dice the meat.
To this mix add around a teaspoon of salt and pepper and mix well.

In a frying pan add a little butter and heat, chuck in the cranberries and fry until they split. Add the cranberry sauce, mix well and remove from heat.

In a large pan add the water and lard and bring to the boil. Once boiling add the flour and salt and mix to a stiff 'hot water paste'
Remove from heat and turn out onto the table, knead a little (well as much as you can with boiling pastry!)

Dived the pasty into 2/3 1/3

Roll out the 2/3s and line a suitable baking dish with removable bottom. The pasty needs to be around 8mm thick for a nice pork pie style crust. (you must work with this pastry whilst its hot, if it cools it is ruined and you must make more)

Add one half of the chicken mix, then add the cranberry suace. Add the rest of the chicken mix.

Roll out the other bit of pastry and seal on the top well use a bit of water to seal.

Cut a small hole in the top.

Bake in an oven set at 165oC for around two and a half hours. Every half hour baste the top with some egg wash.

Towards the end of cooking turn the pie out and egg wash sides, return to oven to brown.

Allow to cool over night then pour some aspic or gelatine/salt water mix into the hole you created on top. Do this two or three times.

Keep in the fridge or very cold place and serve Christmas evening cold with some pickles and cheese. Smile smugly.

These pies were made today and each contains one chicken and one pheasant, they are around 1.6 kilos each