Steak & Pigeon Pie

The first cold spell of the autumn (we have had the wood-burner on for the last two nights and even had a frost last night) turned our thoughts to rich and sustaining winter food, and while I was out yesterday OH made the filling for a Steak & Pigeon Pie. It was absolutely delicious!

We only had two pigeon, which we had bought at the local Farmers Market, and really needed four for this recipe, but we made it up using extra beef. It is a loose recipe, you can add more or less of everything, add some port if you have it, use more or less garlic etc. The rich short-crust pastry was perfect for this pie, made using 120g butter and 180g of flour.

While he had all the pots and pans out, OH also made an oxtail stew, I'm looking forward to that tonight!

Ingredients
4 woodpigeon
1lb braising beef (cut into ½” cubes)
1 onion, 2 carrots, 2 sticks of celery, all chopped (for the stock)
1 onion sliced (for the pie)
Button mushrooms (halved)
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon (finely chopped)
a bunch of fresh parsley
4 juniper berries
a pinch of thyme
a clove of garlic
2 glasses of red wine
1 tbsp brandy

Short-crust pastry
180g plain flour
120g butter
2 tbsp (approx) cold water

Egg to wash

Method
Put the pigeons, together with the onion, carrots, celery, juniper berries, thyme and stalks of the parsley, into a casserole or large saucepan. Add the red wine and top up with water to provide enough liquid. Bring to the boil and simmer for two hours or until meat comes easily off the bones. (Alternatively, you could put in a slow-cooker overnight, or OH pressure-cooked for 30 minutes)

Remove cooked pigeon on to a plate to cool slightly, strain the cooking liquid through a sieve into a jug, then return it to saucepan. (Discard sieved parsley stalks and stock veg)

Next, in a large frying pan gently fry the bacon until there is sufficient fat in the pan, then add the braising steak and brown all over. Transfer the steak to the saucepan of cooking liquid, bring to the boil and cover, simmer gently for 40 minutes or until the beef is tender. Meanwhile add the sliced onion to the frying pan and fry until soft and golden, then remove to a large mixing bowl. Next put the halved mushrooms in the frying pan, with a clove of crushed garlic, and fry until the mushrooms are cooked but still firm, then add them to mixing bowl.

Remove the breast meat and leg meat from the pigeons, cut into small pieces and add to mixing bowl. Chop the parsley leaf and add to mixing bowl. When braising steak is tender, use a slotted spoon to transfer to mixing bowl. Then reduce the cooking liquid to intensify flavour, check seasoning, add brandy and continue to cook for a further minute or two, thicken if necessary.

Mix the contents of the bowl well. Line a pie tin with the short crust pastry, fill with the pie mixture and gently firm, then pour on the sauce until the pie base is full. Add the pastry lid, crimp the edges, eggwash and cook for 30-35 minutes at 180C, serve immediately. Heaven!