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Partridge Shepards Pie

I'm not a big movie star fan, I couldn't tell you who plays in what, my wife and her family on the other hand ... they know their movies! They can tell you the person's name and all the other movies that person has ever been in, plus the year it was released. You literally can't watch a show or movie without them pausing it ten times to talk about the actors playing in it.

Recently I decided to do some British / Scottish type meals for Gundog Central in honor of Sean Connery after he passed away. You might not think that has a lot to do with Bird Hunting or this site, but I disagree. A lot of our hunting traditions come from British culture, bird hunting and bird dogs being among them. Growing up, I was a big James Bond fan, I admired the coolness of the character even in the direst of circumstance. Sean Connery was one of the few actors I looked up to.

We also recently lost a member of our family, my wife's brother, Ronnie. The whole family is crushed, but Tami's mom was understandable devastated. We asked her to come stay with us while she tried to cope with the loss. It's been several weeks now, and she seems to be doing OK on the outside, but we all know she's still struggling on the inside. We pass the time by watching TV and cooking food.

While she was here, this is one of the meals I made for her. I know a Shepard's Pie is nothing new, but I'd never cooked one before and I was on my list of things to attempt. Traditionally it's made with Sheep or some other kind of red meat, not game birds. After cooking this ... this has to be one of my favorite meals!! We killed this, we went back to second and thirds! The biggest disappointment is that we had absolutely no leftovers!

Ingredients

Chukar Stock

Chukar Filling

Mashed Potatoes

Instructions

Step #1 Add 8-12 cups of water to large stock pot. Set heat to high. Add Partridge and 1/2 cup of Kosher Salt.

Step #2 Add Carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorn and poultry seasoning

Step #3 Bring mixture to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the birds reach in internal temperature of 155 degrees

Step #4 While the birds are cooking. Prepare your ingredients for your filling by dicing up the carrots, celery and onions into small pieces.

Step #5 Peel and dice up golden potatoes into large 1-2 inch cubes.

Step #6 Remove birds to a plate when they reach the correct temperature and allow to rest.

Step #7 Add a colander over top of another stock pot. Line the colander with paper towels and pour the remain stock through the colander so that small particles get filtered out. Discard everything the colander captures, but retain the stock.

Step #8 Add new stock pot with filtered stock back to the stove. Bring to a boil. Add cubed potatoes and cook 10 - 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. Put colander into sink and drain potatoes. Add drained potatoes back to pot. Add Milk, truffle butter and salt. Use a masher or hand mixer to combine all the ingredients and make potatoes creamy.

Step #9 Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of truffle oil to oven safe skillet and set stove eye to medium high heat. Add carrots, celery and onions to hot skillet and cook for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Step #10 Add 3 gloves of garlic, diced up fine, to the hot skillet and cook for another minute.

Step #11 Add Salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add 2 tbsp of flour and combine

Step #12 Add 1 cup of warm milk. Allow to thicken for a minute to two, then turn off heat.

Step #13 Shred the meat from the birds and add to the skillet. Combine.

Step #14 Rub butter all over the inside of a casserole dish. Take the filling mixture and dump into the bottom of a casserole dish, using a spatula to smooth out the layer.

Step #15 Taste the mixture and add additional salt and poultry seasoning, if needed. Add a layer of sharp cheddar cheese.

Step #16 Dump the mashed potatoes on top and use a spatula to create a smooth top layer.

Step #17 Sprinkle with Pepper and more shredded sharp cheddar.

Step #18 Place in the over and cook for 20 minutes. When it comes out, the cheese should be melted and the potatoes should have some brown edges.

Step #19 Using a peeler, shave off a few slices of Black Truffle.

Step #20 Sprinkle the Black Truffles over the top.

Step #21 Then serve. This is a one pot meal, you wont need any sides.

Step #22 If its a big of a hit at your house as it was at mine, your dish should look like this when its done.

Recipe Card

Partridge Shepards Pie

Written by Jeff Davis Visit : Visit authors website

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Prep Time: 15 Min - Cook Time: 30 Min

Ingredients

Chukar Stock

4 Chukar Partridge, Whole

8-12 cup(s) Water

1/2 cup(s) Kosher Salt

2 Carrots, broken in half

2 Celery Stalks, broken in half

1 Yellow Onion, chopped in half

3 Bay Leaves

1 tsp Poultry seasoning

1 tbsp Whole Black Pepper Corns

Chukar Filling

2 Carrots, diced

4 Celery Stalks, diced

3 Garlic Cloves, diced

1 Yellow Onion, diced

1 Black Truffle

1 tbsp Black Truffle Oil

2 tbsp All Purpose Flour

1 cup(s) Warm Milk

1 Bag of Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese

1/2 tsp Poultry seasoning

Black Pepper

Salt

1 tbsp Butter

Mashed Potatoes

8 Yukon gold potatoes, cubed

8 cup(s) Partridge Stock

3 tbsp Black Truffle Butter

1-2 cup(s) Milk

Salt, a generous amount

Instructions

Step #1 - Add 8-12 cups of water to large stock pot. Set heat to high. Add Partridge and 1/2 cup of Kosher Salt.

Step #2 - Add Carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorn and poultry seasoning

Step #3 - Bring mixture to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Allow to cook for 15-20 minutes, or until the birds reach in internal temperature of 155 degrees

Step #4 - While the birds are cooking. Prepare your ingredients for your filling by dicing up the carrots, celery and onions into small pieces.

Step #5 - Peel and dice up golden potatoes into large 1-2 inch cubes.

Step #6 - Remove birds to a plate when they reach the correct temperature and allow to rest.

Step #7 - Add a colander over top of another stock pot. Line the colander with paper towels and pour the remain stock through the colander so that small particles get filtered out. Discard everything the colander captures, but retain the stock.

Step #8 - Add new stock pot with filtered stock back to the stove. Bring to a boil. Add cubed potatoes and cook 10 - 12 minutes, or until the potatoes are soft. Put colander into sink and drain potatoes. Add drained potatoes back to pot. Add Milk, truffle butter and salt. Use a masher or hand mixer to combine all the ingredients and make potatoes creamy.

Step #9 - Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Add 1 tablespoon of butter and 1 tablespoon of truffle oil to oven safe skillet and set stove eye to medium high heat. Add carrots, celery and onions to hot skillet and cook for about 5 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Step #10 - Add 3 gloves of garlic, diced up fine, to the hot skillet and cook for another minute.

Step #11 - Add Salt, pepper and poultry seasoning. Add 2 tbsp of flour and combine

Step #12 - Add 1 cup of warm milk. Allow to thicken for a minute to two, then turn off heat.

Step #13 - Shred the meat from the birds and add to the skillet. Combine.

Step #14 - Rub butter all over the inside of a casserole dish. Take the filling mixture and dump into the bottom of a casserole dish, using a spatula to smooth out the layer.

Step #15 - Taste the mixture and add additional salt and poultry seasoning, if needed. Add a layer of sharp cheddar cheese.

Step #16 - Dump the mashed potatoes on top and use a spatula to create a smooth top layer.

Step #17 - Sprinkle with Pepper and more shredded sharp cheddar.

Step #18 - Place in the over and cook for 20 minutes. When it comes out, the cheese should be melted and the potatoes should have some brown edges.

Step #19 - Using a peeler, shave off a few slices of Black Truffle.

Step #20 - Sprinkle the Black Truffles over the top.

Step #21 - Then serve. This is a one pot meal, you wont need any sides.

Step #22 - If its a big of a hit at your house as it was at mine, your dish should look like this when its done.

About the Author

Jeff Davis

You may think cooking and recipes don’t have much to do with a website dedicated to hunting dogs ... but really, why do we hunt? Sure, we enjoy watching our dogs work in the field and being outdoors, but ultimately, hunting is about survival and feeding our families. We might as well try to do it well. I'm not a chef and definitely no food authority ... but I do like to eat and enjoy cooking. After searching for people willing to share their recipes on Gundog Central, without much success, I decided to try to do a few on my own, with my wife Tami's help. The recipes I share here are things I like to eat and have made here at home. I've tried to include step-by-step instructions with each meal describing exactly how I did it, but my method may not be best, if you decide to try a recipe posted here, please use whatever technique you think works best, I'm simply sharing how I did it. You'll see a lot of recipes where I've tried to make things from starch, when I could have just used store bought ingredients, simply because I wanted to learn how something was done. My goal is to continually update these recipes as I learn new things and techniques. These are my attempts at creating good, home cooked food, that I would like to eat! If I'm sharing it here, my family and I enjoyed it and I believe you will too.