Pasties were the original convenience food, ideal for pinic, lunch, or dinner, hot, or cold and I have adapted the traditional recipe to suit the hunter.

Ingredients

One boned rabbit (400 to 500 grams)

One pigeon breast (100 grams)

Cherizo sausage (50 grams)

One smoked streaky bacon rasher (50 grams)

One onion, finely chopped

I clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped

1 TBSP Olive oil

One medium potato (200 grams) Peeled and chopped into 1 cm cubes

Swede (200 grams) Peeled and chopped into 1 cm cubes

Carrot (200 grams) Peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes

One TBSP mixed herbs, or fresh herbs thyme and rosemary finely chopped

One TBSP Worcestershire sauce

Salt and Black Pepper

Pastry

Shortcrust pastry is readily available from super markets, but if you wish to make your own, this is how:

500 grams of plain flour

250 grams butter

1 TSP salt

300 ml of water

1 egg

Put the flour into a bowl and sprinkle over the salt. Chop the butter into cubes and add to the bowl, squeezing the flour and butter together and mixing with your fingers, until a fine bread crumb texture is produced. Now add the water in stages to produce a dry ball shaped dough and cover.

Method

Put the potato, swede and carrot cubes in a saucepan, cover with water and parboil for eight minutes. Strain off and leave to cool. Place the onions and garlic in a frying pan with the olive oil and lightly fry them until softened. Leave to cool.

Slice the meat, bacon  and sausage and roughly mix, then with the large cutting plate fitted, feed into a meat grinder. This makes for a better mix of flavours. Sprinkle over the mixed herbs and Worcestershire sauce and stir into the mix. Season with salt and black pepper. Add the onions and vegetables and mix thoroughly with the meat mix.

Divide the dough into two and roll out on a floured surface, flipping and turning until it is 3 to 4 mm thick. Using as a guide cut round a cereal bowl to produce a disc approx 170 mm dia. Repeat with all the dough, which should produce eight discs of pastry. Load two heaped table spoons of the mixture in an oval shape along the centre line of each disc and brush the edges with beaten egg. Draw the pastry up around the mix and crimp the pastry shut in a zig zag between your fingers. Brush over the upper surfaces with the beaten egg to give a glaze when cooked.

If bacon, or cherizo is not used, then a knob of butter should be added at the top of each mix to aid cooking, as rabbit and pigeon breast have no natural fat. These are now ready to cook in a hot oven for 30 minutes until golden, or freeze for another day.