It's British Pie Week

Introduction

It's British Pie Week and I am partial to a pie or two so I thought I would share a few with you, that I have sampled and enjoyed.

Today I had a chicken and mushroom pie at The White Swan in Alnwick, which now houses the dining room of the RMS Olympic, which was the sister ship to the Titanic.

I also wrote an ode to my favourite pie that you can sample here:

Here is a recipe taken from a link in the above story:

Butter Pie is also known as Catholic pie or Friday pie, and is an age-old dish, from around the Chorley and Preston area or, for the non-Lancastrians, a potato pie.

Ingredients

For the pastry

225g/8oz Plain flour

50g/2oz Butter, salted or unsalted; you can adjust seasoning to taste at the table

50g/2oz Lard, vegetable fat, or dripping

A pinch of salt, if used, and white pepper

Ice cold water

For the filling

3 Large potatoes – a King Edward/Maris Piper type

1 Large onion

50g/2oz Butter, plus 100g/4oz for softening the onions

Method

• 1. Sift the flour and salt into a bowl and stir in the butter and lard (I tried with all butter and found this microwaved really well, about 30 seconds to a minute, depending on the wattage, for each quarter of a pie). Using your fingertips, or a fork, incorporate in the butter until it resembles fine crumbs, then drizzle in just enough cold water to make the pastry form a ball, pop into a plastic bag, press out the air, and leave in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.
• 2. Meanwhile, peel the three large potatoes and the onion, cut the potato into thick slices, a little thicker than a pound coin, and the onion in to half rings. Parboil the potatoes until they are just soft but still holding their shape, about 8-10 minutes. Saute the onions, over a low heat, in the butter until soft, but not browned, as this will spoil the end flavour.
• 3. Roll out about two thirds of the pastry, to line a pie dish, and trim the edges.
• 4. Drain the potatoes, let the steam leave the pan, then, in the lined pie dish, layer the potatoes, onions and butter flakes, season with salt and white pepper and top off with the rolled remains of the pastry, ‘stab’ the top to make air vents.
• 5. Bake at 180 degrees for about half an until golden, and serve immediately, with pickled red cabbage.

And Some More Pies

Each December we take a trip to the Talbot Arms in Settle to have a taste of their Turkey and Pigs In Blankets Pie:

This is about British Pie week and the pies I am talking about are savoury rather than sweet so no Twin Peaks Cherry Pie here on this list. I had considered doing this as a poem, but I included my butter pie poem if you want to try that out.

Here is a History of Pies if you want to know a little more about them

Often pies are meat and gravy, but I prefer ones that contain vegetables, especially potatoes. I recently heard mashed potatoes described as "Irish Guacamole" which made me laugh.

Here you can find some wonderful pies from Clayton Park Bakery (where I get butter pies from locally)

These are a few of their pies:

• Potato & Meat Pie
• Butter Pie
• Beef & Onion Pie
• Three Cheese & Onion Pie
• Steak & Kidney Pie
• Steak & Kidney Pudding
• Steak & Pepper Pie
• Steak Pie
• Chicken & Gravy Pie

You can see them on the site

Thank you for reading and I hope that I have made you a little hungry.