British Pie Week!

British Pie Week is coming up, and to celebrate, we thought we would share a couple of our favourite pie recipes along with our favourite Everhot Essentials dishes to cook them in. British Pie Week starts on the first Monday of March and is a celebration of a British classic. The first pie recipes written in old English were found in a recipe book for King Richard the Second. This recipe book held the first known recipe for a pie, this pie went by Flampoyntes which is another name for a pork and cheese pie, which still sounds delicious.  What makes a pie is quite a controversial topic, but according to The British Pie Awards’ website, the definition of a pie is ‘a filling totally encased in pastry and baked.’ We have used two recipes that fit that definition soundly.

We start savoury, with a Bacon & Egg pie (don’t knock it till you try it), this recipe comes out of our very own Everhot cookbook, which comes free with your cooker. We recommend the Medium Stellar Non-Stick Loose Base Flan Tin which can be bought through our Everhot Essentials website.

Bacon & Egg Pie:

For the pastry:

340g plain flour

115g lard or vegetable fat

60g butter

1tsp salt

Water to mix (approximately 6-7tbsp)

For the Filling:

450g diced bacon

5 eggs

4 spring onions

2 tbsp of parsley

1. Combine the lard, butter, and flour in a large mixing bowl. Add the salt and slowly add water until a dough forms.
2. Leave to cool in the fridge whilst cooking the bacon.
3. Lightly fry the bacon and leave to cool. Whilst cooling, roll out 2/3 of the pastry and line the flan tin. Save the remaining dough for the lid of the pie.
4. Once the bacon has cooled, fill the pastry with the bacon and sprinkle over the spring onions. 
5. Break the eggs over the bacon and spring onions, then top with black pepper and chopped parsley. 
6. Use the remaining pastry to cover the filling, crimp the edges, and poke the middle of the pie to allow steam to escape. Glaze the pie with egg or milk.
7. Bake on the bottom shelf at 220 degrees for 35-45 minutes until the pastry is golden. 

For our second pie recipe, we chose a sweet one, a delicious apple and blackberry pie. This recipe uses sweet shortcrust pastry; you can make it yourself, or use pre-made shortcrust pastry. For this recipe, we recommend the Crinkle Pie Dish (small) which you can also find on our website.

Apple & Blackberry Pie:

For the pastry:

375g plain flour

200g salted butter

50g icing sugar

2 egg yolks

For the filling:

6 large Bramley apples, peeled and diced

The juice of 1 lemon 

50g caster sugar

150g blackberries (frozen or fresh)

1. Combine the flour and butter in a bowl and use your hands to create a breadcrumb-like mixture.
2. Add the icing sugar and egg yolks and form a dough (if the mixture is dry, add a little water).
3. To make the filling, add the apples to a pan with the juice of 1 lemon, caster sugar, and a splash of water. Cover the mix and cook on low heat, occasionally stirring until the apples are very soft. 
4. Add the blackberries and stir through.
5. Grease the pie dish then line it with 3/4 of the pastry. Fill the pastry with the apple and blackberry mix. Use the remaining 1/4 to make a lid and decorations. Brush with egg white or milk to glaze.
6. Cook for 40 minutes at 200 degrees on a low shelf (allow extra cooking time if the pastry is not golden). 
7. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

 

 

Shop our pie dishes ready for British Pie Week!