Guinea Fowl and Summer Truffles Pies

For special treats, I often turn to ‘Great British Chefs’ recipe website and this particular one is thanks to Adam Gary (with a few tweaks of my own).
These a lovely little pies full of moist meat, mushrooms and truffles served on a thick slice of butter roasted kholrabi.  The truffles came from the Wiltshire Truffle company, milk from Tytherington Milk Station; butter from Ampersand; kholrabi from our local market; and Cacklebean egg.  Dare I admit that I used ready made puff pastry!?!!!
Ingredients
PIES
  • 150g of mixed seasonal wild mushrooms
  • 50ml of olive oil
  • 850ml of roast guinea fowl stock (make it with the bones of the bird)
  • 150g of guinea fowl breast meat, minced
  • 2 tbsp of double cream
  • 1 tbsp of Madeira
  • 20g of summer truffle, finely chopped
  • 1 sheet of puff pastry, pre-rolled
  • egg
  • 1 tbsp of milk
  • salt and black pepper
BUTTERED KOHLRABI
  • kohlrabi
  • 250g of clarified butter, warm
Method
  • To make the pies, heat the oven to 200˚C/Gas mark 6.
  • Cut the wild mushrooms into evenly sized pieces. Heat a cast iron frying pan to a high heat and add a little of olive oil. Add the wild mushrooms
  • Cook until the wild mushrooms are golden brown all over. Remove them from the frying pan and drain on kitchen paper. Leave to cool to room temperature and then finely chop. Do not season.
  • Pour 250ml of the guinea flow stock into a small saucepan and simmer over a high heat until reduced to 100ml. Allow to cool
  • Mix the mushrooms with the minced quail. Season with salt and pepper, then stir in the cream, reduced guinea flow stock and Madeira. Carefully add the chopped summer truffle
  • Cut the puff pastry with two circular cutters into 4 x 9cm discs and 4 x 20cm discs.
  • Spoon a generous sized portion of the pie filling onto the smaller of the two puff pastry discs and shape into a mound.
  • Mix the egg with the milk to make an egg wash and brush round the outside of the puff pastry discs with the meat mix on.  Tip : Do not let the wash go over the side of the party otherwise it stops it rising and will also make it stick to your cooking sheet.
  • Place the larger of puff pastry discs over the top of the pie mix and mould around it. Seal with a little more egg wash.  Press firmly with the sides of your hands to ensure the pies are sealed and trim off any spare pastry.  Use a fork to crimp the edges of the pies to ensure they are totally sealed.   With the point of a sharp knife, put a hole in the top of each pie.  This allows excess team to escape when cooking.   
  • Egg-wash the pies over the top and place in the fridge to rest for 15-20 minutes, before cooking.
  • For the kohlrabi, peel and cut each one into four even slices. Select the four best slices and cut out with a 9cm cutter.
  • Line the bottom of a shallow metal tray with greaseproof paper and arrange the kohlrabi discs on top. Pour over enough clarified butter to cover and then seal the tray with foil. Cook for 10 minutes in the oven.  Remove the kohlrabi from the clarified butter and place on draining paper.  Then pan-fry the kohlrabi in a little of the remaining butter until they have a light colour.  
  • Put the pies in the oven and cook for approx 15-18 minutes until golden brown.
  • In the meantime, heat the remaining guinea fowl stock in a saucepan over a medium heat and reduce about half.  Season.
  • Place a  kohlrabi disc in the middle of 4 serving dishes. Pop the pie on top and shave some summer truffles around the edge.  Serve with the gravy and an array of green vegetables.

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