Ingredients £5.81
Crockpot filling
Ingredients £8.52 makes around a 1.5 kilos (use half of this mixture)
1 Rabbit jointed
1 Hare jointed
2 Pheasant breasts
1 Pigeon
200g Venison pieces
1 large Onion finely sliced
2 cloves Garlic
50 ml Red wine
100ml Chicken stock
1 Carrot
150g Swede
Sprig Rosemary
Sprig Thyme
Salt and Pepper
Additional pie filling
Ingredients £1.55
25g Butter
15ml Olive oil
200g Mushrooms halved
1 Carrot diced
15 ml Brandy
2x15ml Plain Flour
225g Suet Pastry
Method
1. Dice the pheasant breasts and finely slice the onions.
2. Brown the meat in a frying pan then put this in the crock pot. Soften the onions and the garlic and add these too.
3. Use the glass of wine to deglaze the pan and add this to the crock pot too along with the stock. Season with salt and pepper.
4. Cut the carrot and swede into chunks and place these along with the sprigs of rosemary and thyme on top of the mixture (pic 1). And cook on high for 7-9 hours depending on your slow cooker until the carrot and swede are cooked thoroughly, the meat will be well cooked by then as meat cooks before vegetables in a slow cooker.
5. Drain the meat mixture over a bowl, keeping the stock, mash the carrot and swede (to help thicken the stock), and take the meat off the bone. Discard the bones along with the chunks of carrot and swede that won't mash to a pulp, plus the rosemary and thyme, they’ve done their work.
6. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Put the butter and oil in a frying pan, add the mushrooms, diced carrot and then add a splash of brandy and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the flour and cook out for a further couple of minutes.
7. Place half of the meat, the mashed vegetables and all the mushroom mixture in a deep pie dish (pic 2). Allow to go cold.
8. Roll out the suet pastry to cover the pie dish plus ½ inch. Trim this ½ inch off and use to put round the lip of the pie dish by wetting the edge of the pie dish and pressing the pastry onto it then wet this. Cover the pie with the pastry, trim the edges and crimp. Put 2 slits in the top of the pie and use any trimmings to decorate the top. Brush with milk and bake for 30-40 minutes.
