Birds Encased

This dish was referred to in a sixteenth-century description of a London feast and there is also a seventeenth-century recipe from the Cotswolds. The birds used were plovers, wheatears, young pigeons or young partridges. Today, young pigeons or quails are usually obtainable.

Serve with whole french beans or young peas, and with half a blanched tomato, topped with a black olive, between each pastry-encased bird.