Recipe: Shropshire fidget pie

Recipe: Shropshire fidget pie

Simple, cheap and traditional, Shropshire fidget pie makes an easy, warming dinner

Clare Hargreaves

The curiously named Shropshire fidget pie is one of the county’s best-known regional dishes and is commonly made using apples, bacon or gammon, and Shropshire potatoes. There are a number of theories as to the origin of the name: it's thought it relates to the ingredients’ tendency to shuffle around in their pastry case when baked, or it could be that it was once ‘fitched’ – five-sided. A less palatable origin is that it smells like polecat (known in Shropshire as a ‘fitch’ or ‘fitchett’) while cooking. Whatever its origin, it's a delicious meal served hot with buttered greens and a glass of local cider.

Rustle up this tasty pie for a warming meal in autumn and winter.

Ingredients

  • 375g Gammon steak
  • 2 Bramley cooking apples peeled
  • 160ml Cider
  • 750g Shropshire potatoes
  • 1tbsp Wholegrain mustard with honey
  • 50g Butter
  • 80g Double cream
  • 100g Cheddar cheese
  • 75g Plain flour
  • 75g Self-raising flour
  • 75g Butter
  • A pinch of salt
  • 50ml Water add a tiny amount gradually until the pastry forms a ball

Method

  • Step 1

    Preheat oven to 180°C/375°F/Gas 5. Make the pastry by sifting the plain and sel-raising flour and salt into a bowl. Dice butter and rub into flour until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir in water until pastry forms a ball. Wrap pastry in cling-film and rest in fridge 20 mins.

  • Step 2

    Peel the potatoes, cut into chunks and cook in salted boiling water for around 20 mins. Dice the gammon and sauté in a pan until sealed. Add the cider to the pan and simmer for 15 mins until tender.

  • Step 3

    Dice the apples, add to the gammon and stir to coat the apples with the sauce. Cook 2-3 mins then remove pan from the heat to cool.

  • Step 4

    Drain the potatoes and mash with the cream, butter and mustard until smooth.

  • Step 5

    Remove pastry from the fridge. Roll out and line a deep flan dish. Add gammon mix and top with grated cheese. Pipe or spoon the mustard mash on top to create topping. Place on a baking sheet and bake for 25 mins.

Clare Hargreaves

Freelance travel writer and photographer

Clare Hargreaves is a freelance food writer and photographer who has worked for olive’s travel pages for five years, contributing to its Movers, Shakers & Bakers, On The Road and foodie guide features as well as reviewing hot new hotel openings. Her olive travels have taken her around Britain as well as to Portugal and Greece. Clare is passionate about writing and photographing nutritious, sustainably produced British food and is a specialist on British cheeses (in 2010 she won the Media Award at the British Cheese Awards for an article about Cheddar-maker George Keen). At home she enjoys growing her own fruit and veg, foraging and making the most of thrifty meat cuts. She also runs Feast with a Chef (feastwithachef.co.uk), which brings big-name chefs to cook feasts in village halls around Bristol. Clare studied French and Spanish at Cambridge University and speaks both fluently. She has also managed gourmet walking tours around Europe, worked as Food Editor on BBC Countryfile magazine, and written three books. You can follow her on Instagram @larderloutUK and visit her website at clarehargreaves.co.uk
Shropshire Fidget Pie

Louise Hagger

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