Pieminister at Stokes Croft

It's British Pie week. We all know that Pieminister is awesome. For me at least they have everything I could want from a pie, rich pastry and hearty fillings that are full of flavour, more than just your run of the mill pie. I have yet to try a Pieminister I don't like. So this isn't really a review of Pieminister as such because most people already know how good they are. More a photo blog of my first visit to the Stokes Croft restaurant which is rather lovely, and I have ashamedly only just checked out. I was lucky enough to be offered two free pie feast vouchers so as we were off to the cinema later on I decided this would be the perfect opportunity to visit. 

fungi chicken pie and mash

the mothership

If that doesn't make you want to eat a pie I don't know what will. Now go forth and eat pie! 

Chicken and Bacon Pie for British Pie Week

So this week is British Pie Week I was contemplating buying some of the amazing Pieminister pies to have for dinner one night but I thought, 'why be lazy?'. I already conquered my pie making fears a month or so ago plus mum gave me some pie dishes for my birthday, surely it was time to attempt pie number two? Although if you are going to buy, Pieminister are the way to go, faultless pies, my favourites are Chicken of Aragon and Moo and Blue.

So I went for a puff pastry chicken and bacon pie I looked over a few recipes, and as always took what I wanted from both and created my own dish. Chicken, lardons, potato and carrot cubes all went into the main mix as well as making a roux with in the main mix then adding creme fraiche  herbs and some roulé cheese.

I was very proud of it, was tasty and very comforting on a chilly night, definitely has encouraged me to try more pies, which is just as well as mum also got me the Pieminister book for my birthday.

Tonight Rich is making one of his amazing stir frys, he will be blogging about that tomorrow, exciting. In the meantime if you haven't indulged in British Pie Week go get some pie, be it cherry, apple, steak, chicken or cheese and potato, the possibilities are endless!

My First Pie!

This weekend I conquered my pie making fears and it turned out miles better than I could have expected. Both Rich and I have a soft spot for the magnificent Pieminister Moo and Blue pie, seriously go try one, so decided this would be the flavour I would replicate for my own pie. I went with beef, ale and stilton for my main ingredients, Rich chose Bombardier ale, one of our friend's favourite drink choices, to marinade the beef in. I soaked the beef in 400ml of Bombardier, crushed garlic, a handful of peppercorns and some fresh thyme for about 4 hours but apparently leaving it overnight is best.

I then sifted out the beef and rolled it in some pepper and herby flour and fried it until mostly brown then sifted it out again.I added celery carrots and 4 shallot halves to the pan and added some of the ale marinade and some redcurrant jelly and cooked for about 10 mins then I re-added the beef, paprika and 450ml of beef stock and let that cook down, covered, for about 40mins. To my joy a lovely thick gravy had formed in the saucepan and it smelled amazing. I poured it into my pie dish and dotted lumps of stilton before adding the puff pastry top and some air holes.

 I cannot get over how easy it was to make, I was really expecting the flavour not to be as full and strong as it turned out to be. Definitely the best thing I have cooked for a while, Rich is already eager for the next pie installment. Perfect Winter fuel. Go forth now and make pie!