(Serves 6)
This traditional French pie from the Berry makes a lovely cold dish. It would also be perfect for a Sunday lunch buffet.
Pastry
• 2 fresh ġbejniet
• 100g butter at warm room temperature
• 300g plain flour
Filling
• 250g each boneless shoulder of pork, kid and lamb
• 25g butter
• 1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
• 6 eggs
• Gozo sea salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg
Crumble the cheese, and mix it with the butter. Chill it again before making a puff pastry with the flour and butter/cheese mixture, giving it six turns in all. If you are using commercial puff pastry, roll it out, and then dot with a mixture of butter and cheese; fold the pastry in three, roll it, turn, and repeat with more butter and cheese, using 25g butter, and 25g ġbejniet. This will not only enrich what can sometimes be rather dull pastry, but it will also impart the cheese flavour.
Dice the meat small, and fry it in butter for 15 to 20 minutes. Remove from the heat and mix in the onion, parsley and a lightly beaten egg yolk. Season it lightly with the nutmeg, salt and pepper. Allow the mixture to cool. Hard-boil four of the eggs, and shell them.
Heat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F, gas mark 6. Roll out two circles of pastry, one for the base, slightly thicker than the other, and about 25 cm/10 inches in diameter. Put it on an oiled baking sheet. Pile the filling on to the base, leaving about 2.5 cm/1 inch around the edges. Cut the eggs in half lengthways, and arrange them, cut side down, petal fashion, on top of the meat, chopping any that won’t fit and sprinkling amongst the meat.
Beat the remaining egg with a little milk, or water, and brush it around the edge of the pie. Lay the second round of pastry on top, and seal it with the tines of a fork. Knock up the edges of the pastry with a knife. Brush the pie with beaten egg, and make a slit or two in the middle for the steam to escape. Bake for 20 minutes, and then for a further 30 minutes at 170˚C/325˚F, gas mark 3.