Instructions: Put the flour and salt into the bowl of your food processor.

Bring the water and lard to a boil and let the lard melt. With the food processor running, pour in the water and lard mixture; process until the dough forms a smooth ball.

Remove and form one ball with 3/4 of the dough and another with 1/4 of the dough. Allow to cool before rolling out.

For the filling:
Put veal, bones and stock in a large pot and add salt to taste and pepper.

Add 1 T./15ml each parsley and thyme. Bring to a boil; simmer, covered, two hours. Allow to cool.

Chop the veal into bite-size pieces. Mix it in a bowl with the rest of the parsley and thyme, the ham, lemon zest, additional freshly ground black pepper, sherry and brandy.

Toss well and set aside for about 1/2 hour.

Use a 5 cup/1.2liter pate pan, the kind of loaf pan that has sides that can be released to lie flat. Set it up with the sides up and in place. Roll out the larger ball of dough. Use it to line the bottom and sides of the pate pan, and leave the edges of the dough hanging over. Put half the meat filling in the bottom of the pan, on top of the dough. Peel the eggs.

Trim the small ends (that dont have any yolk in them)

then line the eggs up in a row down the center of the filling.

Top with the rest of the filling.

Roll out the smaller ball of dough. Lay it on top of the filling, with some dough hanging over the edges. Paint the edges of the top and bottom crusts with some of the egg to seal the top and bottom crusts together well when you crimp them. Cut away excess and crimp the edges together well. Use a small round cutter to cut a hole in the center of the top of the crust. Roll out some scraps and cut into leaf shapes. Use a knife score the leaf veins in the shapes. Paint the bottoms with egg and stick onto the top crust. Paint the whole top with the rest of the beaten egg.

Preheat the oven to 450 F/230 C and bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 400 F/200 C and bake an additional 20 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Allow to cool for an hour.

Dissolve some unflavored gelatin in a cup of the broth, strained and brought to a boil, the veal was cooked in. Add a splash of sherry or brandy if you like. Insert a narrow-stemmed funnel in the hole in the top of the pie and slowly pour in the hot stock and gelatin until you cannot get any more in. Try it again later after the stock mixture has had time to seep through the filling and you will get more in. Store in the refrigerator for a day or two, up to three days, before serving, to allow the flavors to develop. (Actually, it will be good for at least a week, but once you taste it, you wont let it stay there.)

Loosen the sides of the pan and let the drop. Put the pie on an oblong platter and surround it with sprigs of watercress.

To serve, slice it so that each person gets a rectangular or square piece surrounded by dough on the outside, with the meat mixture surrounding a pretty round of egg white and egg yolk.

Accompany this with mesclun mix salad and vinaigrette.

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