Name: Trespassers Pie
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 2 wild rabbits, jointed (this may seem a lot for 4 people but there isn’t an awful lot of meat on a wild rabbit) or 6-8 (600 g / 1 lb 5oz) boned and skinned chicken thighs, cut into chunks; 450 ml / 15 fl oz / 2 cups chicken stock; 150 ml / 5 fl oz / ⅔ cup white wine; 650 g / 1 lb 7 oz saffron rough puff pastry or 1 ½ x 500 g blocks pre-made puff pastry; 2 tbsp white wine; 1 pinch / 20-30 saffron strands, crushed; 2 tbsp plain flour; 1 tsp sugar; 1 medium onion, chopped; 1 clove garlic, crushed; 1 tbsp oil; 50 g / 2 oz streaky bacon, chopped (I use smoked by preference but unsmoked is fine too); ½ tsp ground mace; pinch of ground cloves; ½ tsp ground ginger; ½ tsp ground cinnamon; 1-2 tsp cornflour mixed with 1 tablespoon water; 1 egg, beaten; salt and pepper to taste; 2 sprigs thyme or savory

Preparation info

Difficulty
Easy

Appears in

Fool's Gold

By Sam Bilton

Published 2022

About

Given the grief that rabbits and hares cause saffron growers it feels apt to include a recipe for a trespassers pie. You can replace the rabbit with chicken if you prefer. I make this like a pithivier (there is something quite liberating about a free-form pie) but you could use a 30 cm / 12 in enamel pie dish instead. It’s best to make the filling a day ahead so that it can cool before you make the pie.