Mini Wood Pigeon Pie #2: Pigeon and Mushroom Pot Pie with Cheesy Roasties

 

Pigeon and mushroom pie with cheesy roasties

This is the second post in an intended series of six featuring recipes for mini, single serving pigeon pies. This recipe sees a tasty combination of pigeon breast and chestnut mushroom cooked in a small dish topped with crispy and golden puff pastry. While the accompaniments are of course infinitely variable depending upon individual taste and availability of ingredients, these cheesy roast potatoes and nutmeg buttered sprouts complemented the pie extremely well.

Cook Time

Prep time: 15 min

Cook time: 1 hour

Ready in: 1 hour 15 min

Yields: 1 serving

Pigeon breast, chestnut mushroom and onion

Ingredients

• 8 baby new potatoes
• Salt
• 1 skinless wood pigeon breast fillet, finely diced
• 1/2 large chestnut mushroom, wiped clean with damp kitchen paper and finely diced
• 3 teaspoons finely diced white onion (2 teaspoons for pie and 1 for cheesy potatoes)
• Black pepper
• 2 teaspoons pigeon stock (recipe instructions found on Hunter's Pie post)
• 2 ounces (50g) puff pastry
• Flour for rolling pastry
• Beaten egg for glazing pastry
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons grated/shredded Scottish cheddar cheese
• 8 small Brussels sprouts, or as required
• Little bit of butter
• Generous pinch ground nutmeg

Method

Wash the new potatoes but leave them whole and unpeeled. Add them to a pot of cold, lightly salted water and put the pot on to a high heat until the water just starts to boil. Reduce the heat and maintain a gentle simmer for 20 minutes.

Drain the potatoes when done, return to the empty pot and set aside to cool.

Combining pigeon, mushroom and onion pie filling

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Add the pigeon, mushroom and onion to a small glass or stone bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix well by hand to fully combine.

Filling is added to pie dish

Put the pie filling into a small, ovenproof dish about 5" x 4" x 1.5" (12.5cm x 10cm x 3.5cm) and spread it out to an even depth. Drizzle with the 2 teaspoons of made in advance pigeon wild game stock.

Pastry topping is added to pigeon and mushroom combination

Lightly dust a clean, dry surface with flour and roll out the pastry to about the size required to cover the pie filling. Sit it on top of the filling and gently tuck it in all around. Glaze the pastry with beaten egg and cut a "+" shaped steam vent in the centre. Put the dish on to a baking tray and into the oven for 30 minutes.

When the pie is almost ready, half or quarter (depending upon size) the unpeeled new potatoes and add to an ovenproof dish just large enough to contain them. Drizzle with the olive oil.

Take the pie from the oven and cover with foil to help keep it warm. Set aside. Add the potatoes to the oven and turn up the heat to 220C/Gas Mark 8/450F. Cook for 20 minutes.

Seasoned grated cheese and onion

Add the cheese and remaining onion to a bowl. Season with black pepper and stir well to combine.

Put a pot of cold, salted water on to reach a rolling boil. Add the sprouts and reduce the heat to achieve a simmer for 10 minutes before draining through a colander at your sink and returning to the empty pot.

Oven roasted baby potatoes

Take the potatoes from the oven. You should see that the tops have crisped up quite nicely.

Cheese and onion is scattered over roast potatoes

Scatter the cheese and onion combination over the potatoes and return to the oven for 5 further minutes, just to fully melt the cheese and turn it all gooey.

Butter and nutmeg are added to drained sprouts

Add a little butter to the sprouts and the pinch of ground nutmeg. Gently swirl the pot until the butter has melted and fully coats the sprouts.

Pigeon and mushroom pot pie with cheesy roasties and sprouts

Remove the foil covering from the pie and lift the dish to a square serving plate (remember the dish will still be very hot!) Spoon the cheesy potatoes and sprouts alongside and serve.

Mini Wood Pigeon Pie #1: Hunter's Pie

 

Pigeon hunter's pie with mashed neeps, cabbage and onion

As the title of this post suggests, this is the first in a series of what I expect to be 6 posts about small, single serving pigeon pie recipes. The recipes in this series were all created (by me!) a few years ago now and originally published on another site, which is no longer current. I managed to save a number of my food and travel articles from the site, of which this series of mini pigeon pie recipes formed but one.

A great many of these recipes use pigeon based wild game stock, so I thought it sensible to begin this first post by showing you precisely how I make a simple pigeon stock.

Quick and Easy Pigeon Stock Recipe

Clear and fresh pigeon stock

While some people may pluck freshly shot pigeons in order to subsequently roast them whole, this is not a technique I ever employ. I simply don't think it is worth it, as there is virtually no meat on any part of the bird other than the breasts. Instead, therefore, I simply crown them and subsequently remove the breast fillets from the crown with a fish filleting knife.

Breast fillets removed from pigeon crown

You will see that this procedure leaves the bony shell of the pigeon's breastbone fully intact and it is from these bones that I make my pigeon stock.

Pigeon crowns and stock vegetables

I find that around 8 breasted pigeon crowns is a good number for making ultimately about a pint of stock. Begin by adding them to a stock (or large soup) pot along with a medium peeled and quartered onion, 2 washed and roughly chopped large carrots, 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary, 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme and some salt and pepper.

Water is added to stock vegetables

Pour 3 pints (1.7 litres) of cold water into the pot, ensuring all the solid items are fully covered. Add a little more in the unlikely event it should be required. 

Reduced pigeon wild game stock

Put the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to boil. Reduce the heat to achieve a low to medium simmer and continue to cook uncovered in this way for at least an hour or until the liquid is reduced by at least half or up to two-thirds.

Straining pigeon stock

Allow the stock to cool for about half an hour. Suspend a sieve over a large bowl and line it with a sheet of kitchen paper. Carefully ladle the stock in to strain, remaining aware that it will still be very hot. Sieving it while hot and before the fats have congealed is essential. Note that it is likely you will have to change the kitchen paper 2 or 3 times as it becomes clogged.

Your sieved stock will keep in the fridge for 3 or 4 days or can be frozen very successfully in small batches.

Pigeon Hunter's Pie with Mashed Neeps and Sauteed Cabbage and Onion

So let's move on to today's main event that is this single serving hunter's pie, served with sauteed cabbage and onion and mashed Swede turnip (regularly of course referred to as neeps in Scotland). I've labelled it hunter's pie in contrast to cottage pie (made with beef), swineherd's pie (made with pork), shepherd's pie (made with lamb) or gardener's pie (the vegetarian equivalent). Do you maybe have another name for this type of pie, made with wild game and topped with mashed potato?

Pigeon hunter's pie with cabbage, onion and neeps

Cook Time

Prep time: 1 hour

Cook time: 1 hour

Ready in: 2 hours

Yields: 1 serving

Ingredients

• 1 large baking type potato, peeled and chopped to 1.5 inch (4cm) chunks
• Salt
• 2 pigeon breast fillets
• 1/2 small onion, peeled (1/4 finely chopped for pie and 1/4 finely sliced for sauteing with cabbage)
• Black pepper
• 2 teaspoons pigeon stock (prepared as in further up this post)
• 1/4 medium Swede turnip (rutabaga), peeled and chopped to 1 inch (2.5cm) chunks
• 2 inch (5cm) square piece of white cabbage, moderately finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• Little bit of butter for mashing Swede turnip

Method

Put the potato chunks into a pot, season with salt and add enough cold water to ensure they are all comfortably covered. Put the pot on to a high heat until the water just starts to boil. Adjust the heat to achieve a moderate simmer and continue to cook in this way for about 20 minutes or until the potatoes are just softened. 

Drain the potatoes at your sink through a colander, return to the empty pot and sit aside to steam off and dry out for 5 minutes while you prepare the pie filling.

Chopping pigeon breasts

Note that while the pigeon breasts can be minced for this recipe or, "Whatever'd," in  one of those new fangled food processing machines, I find that by taking a couple of minutes to carefully chop them with a large knife in traditional fashion, the texture of the meat in the finished dish truly is far superior.

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F.

Pigeon meat is mixed with onion and seasoning

Add the chopped pigeon meat and onion to a mixing bowl and season with salt and pepper. Mix very well by hand to fully combine.

Pie filling is arranged in cooking dish

Put the pie filling into a 5" x 4" x 1.5" (12.5cm x 10cm x 3.5cm) ovenproof dish and spread it out to even thickness. Drizzle over the two teaspoons of pigeon stock.

Potato is spooned on to pie filling

Mash the potatoes with a hand masher and set aside to further cool until the oven is preheated. Start at that stage by spooning the mash on to the pie filling in medium sized blobs. If you try to spread it straight on, you will end up forcing the potato down into the filling and spoiling the final effect of the pie.

Mashed potato is spread over pie filling

Fill a cup with boiling water and dip an ordinary table knife in the water for a few seconds before using it to spread out the mash. This makes the process much easier and again helps to prevent the mash being forced down into the filling if you need to apply undue pressure. Draw the knife gently back and forwards over the spread mash to create small ridges and allow for a better presentation as these crisp up during cooking.

Sit the pie dish on a baking tray and cook in the heated oven for 30 minutes.

When the pie has been in the oven for about 10 minutes, put the Swede chunks into a pot of cold, salted water and the pot on to a high heat until the water starts to simmer. Reduce the heat to maintain a medium simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, just until the chunks are fully softened. Drain through a colander at your sink and set aside for a few minutes to steam off and dry out.

Sauteing cabbage and onion

Take the pie from the oven and set briefly aside while your kitchen grill (broiler) preheats to its maximum setting. Pour a little vegetable oil into a small to medium frying pan and add the shredded cabbage and remaining onion. Season with salt and pepper and saute over a medium to high heat for 2 to 3 minutes until just softened, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon.

Swede is carefully mashed

Put the pie under grill for a couple of minutes, checking it frequently, until the top of the potatoes are nicely browned.

Mash the Swede turnip with a hand masher.

Browned hunter's pie

Lift the pie to one corner of a square serving plate (remembering the dish will still be extremely hot!) and plate the mashed Swede and sauteed cabbage and onion to serve.

Rabbit and Squirrel Wild Game Pie

 

Rabbit and squirrel wild game pie

Squirrel, I am aware, is an animal that even some of the most fanatical wild game enthusiasts may be reluctant to put on their table. While this is understandable, I can promise you that it is a very tasty and enjoyable eat, especially when paired with another form of game such as, in this instance, rabbit. In addition, grey squirrels in the UK are very much an invasive species and are destroying or taking over the habitats of the native red squirrel, so taking a few for the pot is essentially doing Mother Nature a favour. Just be careful, however, not to hunt any of the red squirrels!

Cook Time

Prep time: 1 hour 30 min (includes poached meat cooling time)

Cook time: 2 hours

Ready in: 3 hours 30 min

Yields: 4 servings

Cleaned rabbits and squirrels

Ingredients

• 1 medium rabbit, cleaned and portioned
• 2 medium squirrels, cleaned and portioned
• 4 ounces/100g (0.5 cups) plain (all purpose) flour, or as required, plus extra for rolling pastry
• Salt and pepper
• Few tablespoons vegetable or sunflower oil
• 3 medium to large carrots (2 for stock and 1 for including in pie filling)
• 1 medium white onion
• 2 bay leaves 
• 4 small sprigs fresh thyme
• Generous handful frozen peas
• 1 egg, beaten in a small bowl

Rabbit and squirrel pieces are dredged in flour

Method

Put the flour into a large bowl and season well with salt and pepper. Add the pieces of rabbit and squirrel to the bowl and carefully turn and mix them around to ensure they are all evenly coated in the flour.

Rabbit and squirrel portions are browned in hot oil

Pour a few tablespoons of vegetable oil into a large stock pot or Dutch oven and bring to a medium to high heat. Shake the excess flour from each meat portion and add carefully to the hot oil. After a minute or two, turn them with cooking tongs and ensure even browning.

Brown rabbit and squirrel pieces

When the meat is browned, lift each piece from the pot with your tongs to a temporary holding plate.

Carrot and onion are sauteed in hot oil

Peel and quarter the onion. Wash and roughly chop 2 of the carrots. Add a little extra oil to the empty pot if you feel it is necessary before bringing back to a high heat and sauteing the veg for 2 or 3 minutes, stirring all the time with a wooden spoon.

Meat piece are cooked by gentle poaching

Return the meat pieces to the pot, along with the bay leaves and thyme. Pour in enough cold water to ensure the meat pieces are comfortably covered (chicken stock or broth can be used if desired). Season with more salt and pepper and turn the heat up under the pot until the liquid just starts to boil. Reduce the heat to achieve a gentle simmer, cover and continue to cook in this way for 1 hour, checking every so often to ensure the simmer is being maintained and liquid level is not getting too low, topping it up if necessary.

Poached rabbit and squirrel portions are left to cool

When the cooking time is up, a large, slotted spoon should be used to lift the meat portions from the pot to a large dish. Cover with foil and leave to rest and cool for 1 hour.

Strain the stock through a kitchen paper lined sieve and reserve. Take the puff pastry from the fridge around 30 minutes before it is to be rolled to allow it to reach room temperature.

Rabbit, squirrel and veg are added to pie dish

When the meat is sufficiently cooled, carefully pluck all the meat from the bones. Take your time doing this as it is important not to incorporate any small pieces of bone in the pie proper. Add the meat to a 10 inch (25cm) round pie dish, along with the frozen peas and the remaining carrot, washed, peeled and finely diced. Use your hands to carefully mix everything together.

Cooled stock is poured over pie filling

Carefully pour enough enough cooled stock to come about half way up the filling. Do not add more as too much will cause the pastry to become soggy during cooking and prevent it rising properly.

Glazed game pie is ready for the oven

Roll the pastry out on a floured surface to a square just slightly larger than the pie dish, Lay it carefully on top of the dish and crimp all the way around the edges. Trim off the excess pastry. 

NB - I know that a lot of people would leave trimming the pastry until after cooking to prevent it shrinking and improve presentation of the finished pie. I prefer to trim pre-cooking as it prevents the pastry sticking to the edge of the dish and presentation is not affected once the pie portions are cut and plated.

Put your oven on to preheat to 200C/Gas Mark 6/400F while the rolled pastry effectively rests.

When the oven is heated, lift the pie on to a baking sheet to contain any potential spills. Glaze with beaten egg and cut 2 or 3 steam vents in the centre. Place the tray in your heated oven for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the pastry is fully risen and golden.

Squirrel and game pie removed from the oven

When the pastry on the pie is risen and golden, remove the pie from the oven and allow to rest for 15 minutes before cutting and serving either on its own, as in this instance, or with accompaniments of choice.