Three-bird Wellington

The perfect alternative to a Sunday roast.
Prep Time 35 minutes
Cook Time 55 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mixed game
Servings 10

Ingredients
  

  • 9 slices Streaky bacon
  • 3 Skinless pheasant breasts
  • 4 Skinless pigeon breasts
  • 4 Skinless partridge breasts
  • 260 g Cumberland sausage meat
  • 90 g Apricots
  • 20 g Peeled pistachios
  • 1 kg Puff pastry
  • 1 Egg

Instructions
 

  • Lay overlapping bacon slices vertically on some cling film.
  • Starting from the edge of the bacon, lay the three pheasant breasts horizontally.
  • Divide the sausage meat into two 130g pieces. Put each one between two pieces of cling film and roll out until they’re the size of the three breasts.
  • Lay the first portion of the sausage meat on the pheasant breasts and sprinkle with pistachios and apricots.
  • Then, lay four pigeon breasts on top, followed by the second piece of mince and some more pistachios and apricots. Top it off with four partridge breasts.
  • Carefully roll everything up, wrapping the bacon around the breasts and sausage meat. Twist the ends of the cling film and place in the fridge for 20 minutes.
  • On another piece of cling film, roll out a piece of puff pastry to a 4mm thickness. It must be 2cm longer than the meat and about 5cm wider. Brush a little water over the top end and along the edges to help it seal.
  • Take the meat out of the fridge, remove the cling film and place it at the bottom edge of the pastry.
  • Roll the meat in the pastry and seal the dough on the sides. Remove the cling film and pierce any air pockets.
  • Lay the joint on a well-greased tray with the seal on the bottom and brush the top with egg wash.
  • Roll the rest of the puff pastry to a 3mm thickness, then roll a lattice cutter along it. Place this over the top of the joint, trim off any excess and egg wash it.
  • Finally, make three small holes at the base, along each side of the joint, to allow any juices to escape.
  • Place into a pre-heated oven at 180°C for 30 minutes, then turn up to 200°C for a further 15 minutes.
  • Allow to rest for 10 minutes before cutting.

Notes

Tanners WineWine Pairing

Château Les Hauts-Conseillants, Lalande-de-Pomerol 2014 – £24
The softness and maturity of this claret from near Pomerol works brilliantly with the milder pheasant and the bolder pigeon flavours
BASC members can obtain a special discount through Tanners, find out more here.
Keyword Mixed game, Partridge, Pheasant, Pigeon