Food magician Jules Mercer has created a glorious old-fashioned pie, filled with game meat, pork and chicken, flavoured with orange and spice and served with a berry glaze.  The secret of the recipe lies in using proper stock.

A pie this perfect deserves a wine packed with black and red fruit succulence and some savoury and spice of its own and you’ll find it in Zonnebloem’s delicious red blend, Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier.

Buy Zonnebloem Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier from your favourite supermarket or wine shop. It retails for around R70.

Kudu Raised Game Pie

Pair with Zonnebloem Shiraz Mourvèdre Viognier.

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

For the filling:

60g butter

1 onion, finely chopped

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1kg cubed kudu or other game meat

250g pancetta, cut into cubes

500g minced pork

500g minced chicken (or use 1kg minced pork)

pinch of cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice

large bunch of parsley, chopped

zest of 2 oranges

2 cups (500ml) good quality stock* (made from gelatinous bones, so when the stock cools it will set to jelly)

For the pastry:

700g flour

1.5 tsp salt

2 eggs, beaten

350ml water

120g butter

120g lard

1 beaten egg, to glaze

Berry glaze:

400g frozen berries

3 Tbsp (60g) sugar

Method

Preheat the oven to 200°C.  Line or spray a spring-based cake tin: 21cm in diameter and 9cm high. Heat the butter in a large saucepan and fry until soft.Add garlic and cook for another minute or two.  Pour into a bowl and mix together with the rest of the filling ingredients, except the stock.

Prepare the pastry: Mix together the flour and salt in a large bowl.  Crack the egg into the centre and mix together roughly with a knife.  Put the water, butter and lard in a saucepan.  Bring to a slow simmer. As soon as the water is boiling, pour into the flour, mixing with a knife as you go.

Once you’ve poured all the water in, turn the pastry onto a surface and knead for a few minutes until smooth.  Use immediately (the pastry goes hard as it sits).

Cut off 1/3 of the pastry.  Roll out the remainder of the pastry to fit the base and sides of your spring form cake tin, with a little excess.  Line the tin with the pastry, leaving a bit overhanging the sides. Roll out the 1/3 portion into a large round and set aside to use as a lid.

Place the filling into the pie and then cover with the lid, using the beaten egg to seal the edges together.  Crimp the edges (using your fingers in a pinching action), and decorate the top of the pie with left over pastry bits, making sure to make a pie hole in the centre, a few millimetres in diameter.

Place in the oven on a baking tray to catch any drips and bake for 30 minutes.  Reduce temperature to 160°C and bake for a further 2 hours.

Warm the stock and pour into the pie through the pie hole and allow to cool.

For the berry glaze, heat the berries and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat until the sugar has melted and the berries are just beginning to soften.  Remove from the heat and serve hot or cold.

 

*Note on the stock:

Ordinary stock from a cube or packet will not work for this recipe.  Ask your local butcher if they have gelatinous stock for a pie, alternatively make your own from 3-4 pork hooves simmered in water overnight in the oven set at 140°C, in an oven-proof casserole, covered.