Pie Off

We’ve been planning to do a culinary competition for a while now. And what better food to get competitive about than pie. Puns all round.

There was an ample sur-pie of puns and banter. We all like puffing our chests out and won’t roll over easily. Oli even went to the extraordinary, and possibly illegal, level of asking the lovely chaps at Great Queen Street for their ham and chicken pie recipe. And the bastards gave it to him – hence his awesome pastry for his game pie.

The rules were simples. 2 pies per couple. One savoury and one sweet. Both made with pastry. (You wouldn’t believe how long it took to agree on these rules!)

The teams were selected carefully… but not as meticulously as the team names.

Erin and Ed: American Pie
Mariana and Oli: Paela Gavella
Cowie and Brown: Cow Pie

To clear up any name related confusion… Erin’s American and Mariana is a proud Spaniard.

The competition took place at Erin’s amazing flat in Islington. So Oli and myself were at an immediate disadvantage given that we were on foreign territory,,, albeit in the best kitchen I’ve ever had the pleasure to cook in.

American Pie opted for a highy creative opening dish – a chicken fajita pie. The likes of which I have never heard of before. If the taste of this bad boy is anything to go bye.. this pie could become a 21st century classic. Rich, spicy, sweet, creamy and smoky; the filling was exceptionally fun. Oli and I are really hoping that our new nickname for Ed, “EID”, sticks.

Delicious filling. Great decoration.

Paella Gavella’s Pie was in a different league in the pastry department. And completely stole the show from a creative stand-point. Oli nailed it. It was a game pie, cooked with pigeon, rabbit and venison with a rich gravy topped off with the most professional suet crust pastry you will ever see… probably even better than you’d find at GQS where he stole it from! But the best thing was the heat resistant board he chose to present it on. Ed and I normally try our hardest not to offer the slightest bit of praise to Oli. But unfortunately we had to eat some serious humble pie here. Fair play to Oli – this game pie was top class.

Cowie and I, in the form of Cow Pie, played it relatively safe. We concentrated on the filling. I spent 8 hours cooking a fabulous shoulder of lamb with anchovies, rosemary, bacon, red wine, dried porcini and a touch of cognac for good measure. It fell of the bone and had great depth of flavour. We topped it off with some of Sainbury’s best puff pastry and hoped for the best. We were pleased with the result. Meaty and full bodied. Just how a good pie should be.

So by this stage we were completely stuffed. What better way to push on from this than to have 3 more pies! Talk about punishment!

American Pie delivered a very flavousome all American classic Apple Pie with sultanas and cinnamon. Bursting with flavour, or should I say flavor for our American audience, it was a lot of fun.

Paela Gavella yet again pulled off a masterstroke. Their pastry was exceptional and we loved the numerical reference to Pi on the lid. It was packed full of autumnal fruit that bled across our plates like some sort of masacre on a pheasant shoot. Good pie.

Cow Pie did some last minute improvisation and rustled up a pie from no-where. Imagine how tasty a mango and pineapple strudel would taste! Well that’s what came out of the oven!

It was one of the most fun evenings I’ve had in a long time. But, the embarrassment of losing a couple of buttons from my shirt and a gentleman offering me his seat on the tube home because he thought I was pregnant mitigated against this! If oysters, sea food and sushi are good romantic foods… pie is the polar opposite!

Chorizo Pie

I’ve been trying to find a word for the Spanish equivalent to a pig shepherd… if anyone knows the word please let me know and we can chirsten this recipe properly. For the time being it’s called “Chorizo Pie” which doesn’t come close to doing it justice!

What you do is make the chorizo, butter bean and smokey red pepper ragu a la Nigel Slater. Then lob in a load more smoked paprika. Cook it in the slow cooker for ages and then leave the lid off for a few hours at the end to reduce it down. It’ll turn into a deep red sludge that tastes like Hades (in a good way)!

Pour a good load of ragu into a large baking dish and then top this with some sauted garlicy spinach and a good twist or two of salt and pepper. Then lightly char some sliced chorizo and layer this on top of the spinach before topping with riced potato. Spinkle a seriously unhealthy amount of Mexicana cheese on top and then cook in the oven until you’ve got a sinfully crispy golden top and the pie is cooked through.

Then open a robust bottle of red wine – preferably Rioja – and settle in for one of the most satisfying meals you could imagine. This has quickly become one of my all time favourites.