Sausage and egg picnic pie

Ingredients

• 8 pheasant eggs, or hen’s eggs
• 800 g of sausage
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 4 sage leaves, finely chopped
• 1 handful of parsley, small, finely chopped
• 1/2 tsp thyme leaves, finely chopped
• 500 g of puff pastry
• 1 egg, beaten
• salt
• black pepper

Instructions

1. 1

   Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6

2. 2

   Bring a pan of water to a boil and boil the eggs for 4 minutes (6 if using hens’ eggs). Plunge directly into cold water and leave

3. 3

   Skin the sausages and mix with the herbs and a good pinch of cayenne. Season with salt and pepper. Peel the eggs carefully

4. 4

   Divide the pastry in half and roll half of it into a rectangle that fits in a baking tray. Flour the baking tray and lay the pastry on top. Add a layer of sausage meat, leaving a little space around the outside. Put the eggs down the middle, making a little groove with your thumb as you go for added stability

5. 5

   Now gingerly build the remaining sausage meat around the eggs

6. 6

   Roll out the other half of the pastry. Brush the edges of the first sheet with beaten egg and lay the other sheet of pastry over the top, pressing to stick and crimping to pimp. Now brush all over with egg and make a few slits in the top. Chill

7. 7

   Bake for 25-30 minutes, rest for a few minutes and serve, or leave to cool for a picnic