Add some extra flair to your gourmet dinner party by serving a few of these mini duck and mushroom pies with wine and gooseberry sauce as starters. The flavour combinations pair perfectly together and will sure please your guests.
Mini duck and mushroom pies with wine and gooseberry sauce
Ingredients
Filling
- 1 x 1,8 – 2,2kg duck, cleaned
- salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
- 20g (2 tbsp) butter
- 5ml (1 tsp) crushed garlic
- 180g button or brown mushrooms, sliced
- 15ml (1 tbsp) dried tarragon
- 15ml (1 tbsp) cranberry jelly
- 60ml (¼ cup) cream
Pastry
- 250g cake flour
- 2,5ml (½ tsp) fine salt
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 110g unsalted butter
- 60ml (¼ cup) water
- 1 egg, beaten, for egg wash
Sauce
- 375ml (1½ cups) chicken stock
- 375ml (1½ cups) dry red wine
- 15ml (1 tbsp) cake flour
- 15ml (1 tbsp) honey
- 100g fresh gooseberries
- knob of unsalted butter
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 170°C.
For the filling, line a baking tray with baking paper and place the duck on top. Lightly score the skin where the fattiest parts are and season. Roast in the oven until cooked through and golden, about 1½ – 2 hours. The juices should be clear and not bloody.
Allow the duck to cool before removing all the meat from the bones. Lightly shred the meat into bite-size pieces (do the same as you would do for chicken mayonnaise).
For the pastry, sift the flour and salt together and add the egg. Heat the butter and water in a saucepan until melted and then bring to a boil. Turn off the heat and pour over the flour mixture.
Use a palette knife to stir the mixture together then lightly knead the dough until smooth. Flatten the dough into a disc, cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge to rest for an hour. The dough is very soft at this stage but will firm up in the fridge.
Continue making the filling by heating the butter in a saucepan until it starts to bubble. Stir in the crushed garlic, mushrooms and tarragon, and fry until golden and tender. Stir in the shredded duck meat, cranberry jelly and cream and allow to boil for a few minutes. Season. Allow the filling to cool while you carry on with the pastry.
Lightly grease a muffin tin. Roll the pastry out until it is about 3mm thick and use a round cutter to cut out 5 rounds. Make sure that the pastry rounds are big enough to line the inside of the muffin tin. Add a generous amount of filling on top of the pastry and cut a pastry lid for each one. Brush the border of the lined pastry with egg wash and place the lid on top. Pinch the border and lid together with your fingers and then crimp the edges to decorate.
Place the uncooked pies in the fridge until firm, about 30 minutes.
For the sauce, bring the stock and wine to a boil. Turn the heat down and reduce by half. Whisk in the cake flour and boil for a few minutes until thickened. Stir in the honey and gooseberries. Just before serving, add a knob of butter and heat through until glossy.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the pie tops with egg wash and bake for 15 minutes. Turn the heat down to 170°C and bake until golden and warmed through, another 20 – 30 minutes.
Serve the pies with the sauce on the side and enjoy with a fresh green salad.
