Serve 4
Filling
Preheat the oven to 180C
In a roasting pan, place all the ingredients except the red wine and roast for 20min.
Add the red wine and cook for 5min.
Remove from oven to rest until room temperature, pick the meat from the bird then place into a mixing bowl. Reserve.
Add the veal stock to the same roasting tray with all the juices and reduce it by half.
Pass through a fine sieve. Reserve.
Pie
In a large pan heat the oil to medium then sauté the onions until soft.
At a high heat, add the mushroom and stir for 2min.
Add parsley, apricots and seasoning. Reserve.
Preheat the oven to 200C
To the mixing bowl with the meat, add the sieved juices and pie mix then combine well with your hands.
Add seasoning if required.
Divide the mix into four portions then shape into individual balls.
For the pastry, cut out 4 circles using a 8cm cutter for the bases, and 4 slightly larger circles (10cm) for the lids. Keep cool in the in the fridge.
Place the 4 base circles on a parchment-lined baking tray.
Brush the edges with egg wash.
Place one ball of pie mix into the exact centre of each base, leaving a 2cm clean border around the edge.
To attach the top, drape the slightly larger pastry lids over the filling.
Gently press the edges down to seal them, ensuring there are no trapped air bubbles.
Crimp the edges with a fork.
Place the assembled pies in the freezer for 10-15min.
Remove, brush the entire dome lightly with egg wash, and chill for another 5min.
Use the tip of a sharp knife to make a small incision to the centre top of each pie to let steam escape.
Bake in the preheated oven (200°C or 180°C fan-forced) for 15-20min until the pastry is puffed, golden and flaky
Homemade tomato sauce
Preheat oven to 180C. Place the tomatoes, shallot, garlic and oil onto a roasting tray and bake for 20min.
Add the salt, sweet paprika, whole spice, brown sugar, white vinegar and cloves. Cook for a further 10min.
Blitz with a hand blender until smooth.
To serve
Serve the pies from the oven with warm or room temperature tomato sauce.
Tip
Other game bird meat can be used to replace the guinea fowl like quail, duck, pheasant. The cooking time will vary depending on the size of the birds.
