Friday is pie day! (Seasonal, festive edition.)

Featuring a Louisiana, Duck & biscuits pie. AKA: A Cajun Christmas Cobbler.

Q: When is a pie not a pie?

A: When it has merely a pastry topping, and no crust on the bottom.

The top crust.

Rub 125 grams of cold butter into 250 grams of self-raising flour, and a teaspoon of cajun spice mix, to form a breadcrumb like texture. stir in a 1/4 cup of double cream to create a soft,pliable dough. Chill for 30 minutes.

The filling.

To make the filling, take 1/2lb of chopped, cooked duck, 2 rashers of bacon, a trimmed and chopped red pepper, and 3 spring onions, finely chopped. Make a simple straw coloured roux with a tablespoon of plain flour, once it is cooked out, add two tablespoons of vermouth* and stir until smooth. Add the meat and vegetables and once thoroughly combined stir in 3 tablespoons of double cream.

Remove from the heat and pour into a pie dish.

*Christmas chaos! I could not find the vermouth in the pantry, and so I substituted Napoleon brandy.

The assembly.

Roll the dough out into a 1/2 inch thickness and stamp out into 1 and a 1/2 inch rounds. Place the rounds on top of the pie filling, glaze with milk and bake at 180 degrees for 35 minutes.

Serve with a suitable Christmas beer. (We chose Sierra Nevada Celebration.)