The Billy Venison Pie

The Billy Team headed up to Hawarden in North Wales for our Christmas getaway. A weekend of good food and good times.

One of the highlights was Martha's delicious Venison Pie. It was so good that we have to share the recipe here.

Ingredients

• Olive oil
• 3 medium red onions, peeled and sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery, trimmed and chopped
• 4 field mushrooms, peeled
• 1kg quality stewing venison, cut into 2cm cubes
• A few sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
• A few sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 3-5 bay leaves
• Sea salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 5 or 6 juniper berries, bashed in a pestle and mortar
• 550ml Guinness
• 1 beef stock cube
• 1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
• 350g ready-made all-butter puff pastry
• 1 large free-range egg, beaten

Method

• Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
• Cut the venison into 2cm cubes.
• Heat a glug of olive oil in a large ovenproof pan on a medium-high heat. Quickly fry half of the venison until it is browned and seared, but not cooked through. Season with a pinch of salt. 
• Place the venison in a dish off the heat to rest while you brown off the remaining venison. Reduce the heat.
• Peel and slice the onions and fry gently for about 10 minutes until nice and sweet. Don’t let them colour too much.
• Meanwhile, peel and chop the garlic and carrots, and trim and chop the celery.
• Turn the heat up, then add the butter, garlic, carrot and celery. Peel, roughly tear up and add the mushrooms. Mix everything together.
• Stir in the flour and continue to cook this until it smells nutty, but not burned. 
• Pick and chop the rosemary leaves and bash the juniper berries in a pestle and mortar. Stir in the venison, rosemary, bashed-up juniper berries and bay leaves. Pick in the thyme leaves and add a pinch of sea salt and 1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper.
• Fry everything quickly for 3 or 4 minutes, then pour in the Guinness and add the stock cube. Pour in enough liquid to cover the meat, topping up with water if you’d prefer. Bring to a simmer, pop the lid on and place in the oven for about 2-2½ hours, giving it a stir from time to time.
• The perfect pie filling should have tender meat in a rich, dark, thick stew. So if, when you remove it from the oven, it’s still quite liquid-y, place the pan on the hob and reduce for 15 minutes or so until it thickens up a bit.
• Evenly roll out the pastry on a floured surface until it is the thickness of a pound coin. Tip the stew in the pie dish, egg wash the edge of the dish and place the pastry on top of the pie.
• Press down on the edge of the pastry with a fork and using a sharp knife cut a small criss-cross to release any steam. Brush the top with beaten egg.
• Pop the pie on the bottom shelf of the oven and bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the pastry is well cooked, puffed-up and golden – then tuck in and enjoy!

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