nearly over here at Audley End House. On shoot days, the guns prefer to have a

big breakfast and then a brief but hearty lunch. This pie is a spectacular

way of using up pigeons and is ideal for a shooting lunch.

For this recipe you will need:

pigeon breasts

mushrooms

truffles

quails' eggs

salt

pepper, cloves and mace

herbs as you choose

port or Madeira

whiskey

stock, with some melted gelatine

pastry

and for the forcemeat, veal mince

cooked ham

and breadcrumbs

I've already greased my mold, so firstly I need to line it with some pastry.

Unlike light pastries for tarts, this needs to stand on its own.

So it needs to be well worked.

Don't roll out your pastry, for that makes for weak sides.

Cut off any excess and put it to the side for the top.

Shooting lunches often happen far away from the home, so food needs to be

packaged and then transported.

There. Now, for the filling.

There are many recipes for forcemeat. I'm using quite a simple one

that has veal, ham

and breadcrumbs.

I'm going to line my pie

Now I'm ready to layer in the rest of my ingredients, starting with the mushrooms.

And now some pigeon breasts.

Some of the herbs, and I have parsley, thyme and sage.

A few of the truffles.

A little of the spice.

A few quails' eggs.

And now repeat.

And now, to add the liquid.

I'm now rolling out the rest of the pastry to make the lid

not forgetting to make an air hole for the steam.

Mary-Anne has already cut me out some nice leaves.

Decorating the top of pies is very popular.

There. And as it's a pigeon pie, I should just add some feet.

There. It's ready for the oven for about an hour and a half.

A practically perfect pigeon pie.

I let the pie cool and then poured in some stock with a little gelatine.

And now it's ready to be served.

I'm going to serve it with a bed of watercress.

And there you have it - pigeon pie! Perfect for a cold lunch.