camilla’s strawberry swirl

Come rain, come shine, Camilla (Jon’s sister) has been the smiling face behind our Borough Market stall since 2004. Her feet must really ache! This recipe is dedicated to Camilla and her son, Dexter.

Serves 8
1 quantity of sweet pastry
250g mascarpone cheese
600 ml good-quality fresh custard
400g strawberries, hulled and cut in half

How to make the sweet pastry
125g softened unsalted butter
65g icing sugar, sifted
1 tbsp whipping cream
1 free-range egg yolk
175g plain flour, sifted

Using an electric mixer if you have one, cream the butter until light and fluffy. Beat in the icing sugar, then mix the cream and egg yolk. Finally, mix in the flour on a low speed until just combined. Turn out on to a floured surface and knead lightly for a few seconds until smooth. Shape into a disc, wrap in clingfilm and chill for at least 4 hours.

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thick and use to line a 25cm loose-bottomed tart tin. Prick the base lightly all over with a fork and leave in the fridge for 30 minutes. Line with baking parchment, fill with baking beans or rice and bake blind for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is dry. Remove the beans and paper and return to the oven for about 5 minutes, until lightly coloured. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Whisk the mascarpone and custard together until smooth and pour into the pastry case. Splash the strawberry liqueur or grenadine randomly on top, then take a knife and swirl it through the filing. Arrange the strawberries on top.

If you want to decorate the pie with pastry hearts, roll out the pastry trimmings and cut out hearts shapes with a tiny cutter or a knife. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 180°C/350°F/gas mark 4 for 6-8 minutes until golden.

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how deep is your love?

Show us some pie passion this Valentine’s Day and we’ll love you right back with a FREE pie to take home.

- Print out this valentines card
- Tell us how deep is your love (feel free to get soppy)
- Hand it to one of our pie cupids in our shops on 14th February

In return you’ll receive a pastry covered love token (and if you’re very lucky a snog)

Offer available in all the pieminister shops!

New Hope and Glory rugby pie for the Six Nations

To kick-off a bumper year of sport, we created a rugby pie for the RBS 6 Nations! The Hope & Glory pie is made with British beef steak and smoked bacon slow-cooked in Greene King IPA Beer. Nom!

FANTASTIC OFFER in our pieminister shops in London, Oxford and Bristol from Friday 3 February:
Buy four Hope & Glory pies for just £10 to take home. Or buy two of these fantastic full-bodied pies to eat in with mash and gravy for just £10.

So get down to your nearest pieminister shop fast to avoid the scrum!

Free cider anyone?

Come to our London shop this Thursday (2nd Feb) in Boxpark / Shoreditch to get free delicious Orchard pig cider from 5pm!

Print this out, and come down this Thursday to the pieminister pies Boxpark unit to get a free Orchard Pig Cider!

No such a thing as a free lunch @boxpark in London?

No such a thing as a free lunch?

Keep an eye on our twitter. A great competition is coming soon next Monday (30th January) to win a free lunch in our new London shop in Boxpark!

Get ready, the competition will open at 8am and will close at midday.

Follow us on twitter to be have a chance to win a pie feast!

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pie and ale evening at the Raven in Bath

Join pieminister at The Raven in Bath on Monday 6 February for an evening of pies and ale.  

Pieminister Founders, Jon and Tristan, will cook up delicious pie recipes for you to try from their new cookbook, A Pie for All Seasons.  You’ll also be invited to sample some old favourites (and a brand new pie!) from their award winning range. And Tim, The Raven’s head barman (and all-round ale expert) has put together a tasty selection of special guest beers, chosen to compliment each pie.

Jon and Tristan will also be signing copies of their book, so if you haven’t already tried your hand at the uber-chocolatey hedonist pie the super-simple clapshot pie or their smoked haddock and cider ‘frying pan pie’ now’s your chance to get your very own copy.

The fun (and cooking) starts at 7.30pm, with a charity raffle draw at 9pm (a great chance to win some fab pieminister prizes!) to raise money for RICE.

 

We look forward to seeing you there!

 

The Raven, Queen Street, Bath

Win a wonderful week in the West Country

Guest Blog

Farm & Cottage Holidays is a family owned and run business, dedicated to offering the finest in self-catering holiday cottages throughout the South West…and what’s more, everyone at Farm & Cottage HQ loves tucking into a good pie!

We’re so pleased to have teamed up with pieminister for our Wonderful Week in the West Country Competition where you can win yourselves a week’s stay with five friends in stunning Somerset at Burrington Farm just a stone’s throw from the pieminister offices.

A luxurious barn conversion located at the foot of the Mendip Hills, Burrington Farm features all you could hope for from a country retreat…

And for those not fortunate enough to win this luxury break, you can still enjoy a relaxing get-away in one of the wonderful holiday cottages we have available to book in Somerset or have a browse of our website where you can view an array of properties ranging from those perfect for a family break to holiday cottages located on working farms – and those who welcome pets!

So make sure you check out our competition and see if you can win our fabulous Burrington Farm break by answering a simple question…

Best of luck, from the Farm & Cottage Holidays team!

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the morning after

Famous hangover cures

The ultimate remedy is a good, old-fashioned ‘hair of the dog’ – and nothing beats a Bloody Mary. Here’s our version:

A Bloody Mary

Ingredients:

2 ice cubes

50ml good-quality vodka

25ml sherry

3 twists of freshly ground black pepper

a pinch of Maldon sea salt

a squeeze of lime juice

150ml Clamato

150ml tomato juice

a dash of Tabasco

a dash of Worcestershire sauce

Shake in a cocktail shaker, strain and serve in a big glass. Add a celery stick and sprinkle with celery salt… Drink.

eat canapies instead of canapés

You’d never guess it, but at pieminister we love to play on words. Sometimes we change names because we don’t like the original ones, and here is a textbook example. ‘Finger food’ sounds gruesome, ‘canapés’ sound pansy, but canapies sound tasty! This is just one recipe for these irresistible little numbers…

 Serves 12

• 300g quantity of shortcrust pastry
• 200g puff pastry
• 1 free-range egg, lightly beaten
• 12 tiny triangles of lemon, tossed with a little olive oil, to decorate

For the filling

• 200g hot-smoked salmon, flaked
• 300ml crème fraîche
• a small bunch of dill, finely chopped
• a small bunch of tarragon, finely chopped
• grated zest of 1 lemon
• 1 red chilli, finely chopped

Mix together all the ingredients for the filling, check the seasoning and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/ gas mark 6.

Roll out the shortcrust pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3mm thick and cut it into circles to fit a 12-hole bun tray, or muffin tins if you want deeper pies. Press the pastry into the tins. Fill with the salmon mixture and brush the edges of the pastry with beaten egg.

Roll out the puff pastry to about 3mm thick and cut out circles to make lids. Use to cover the pies, pressing the edges together to seal. To give a decorative finish, like the one in the picture, press the edge of each pie down with a teaspoon handle, then use the side of the handle and your thumb to crimp it. Brush with beaten egg, then make a small hole in the centre of each pie and top with a lemon triangle.

Sprinkle with a little sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper. Leave to stand for about 10 minutes. Place the pies in the oven and bake for 15–20 minutes, until golden brown.

They go exceptionally well with a Bloody Mary (see page 187).

pieminister is 8!

pieminister is 8! 

This Thursday (15^th December) is exactly eight years since our first pieminister pie was born in Stokes Croft in Bristol. And we want to celebrate by giving away pies all day!

All you need to do is make sure you’re in Bristol this Thursday and meet Holly and Marine (two very dedicated pie ministers) at one of the following eight locations where we’ll have 48 chilled pies to give away at each place:

So, 48 pies at 8 locations – that’s a whole lotta pie.  And you won’t be able to miss us as Kenneth’s coming too (Here’s a photo of trusty Kenneth in case you haven’t seen him before.)

So catch us if you can!

9.08am: In front of the Stokes Croft pieminister shop (the official birth place of pie)

10:08am: Whiteladies Road (next to the Church outside ‘COOK’)

11.08am: 88 Queens Road (next door to Rajmoni curry house, behind the Victoria Rooms)

12.08am: Outside 8 Berkeley Square

12:38pm: By the big silver ball in Millennium Square next to @Bristol

13:28pm: By the bike shed at the Tabacco Factory

14:18pm: Paintworks, outside Unit 5 (there isn’t a Unit 8 )

15:28pm: Gloucester road (next to the Flyer)

Follow us on twitter and facebook for the latest pie route updates.