Pies & Provenance

At Higgidy, it’s no secret that we love a good pie. Our teams are passionate about creating bold flavours for seriously swift suppers at home.
Today, we want to showcase some of our favourite Higgidy pies and the top-notch ingredients that go into them (as well as the brilliant suppliers who make it all possible).

Steak & Sussex Ale Pie

A lot of love goes into a Higgidy Steak & Sussex Ale Pie. We take top-notch cuts of beef and simmer it slow and low in a fabulous pale ale made by our friends and neighbours over at Hepworth & Co Brewery.

After two and a half hours bubbling away with onions, carrots, a splash of Worcestershire sauce and a touch of mustard, it’s done. A rich, tender stew, ready to go into our hand-crafted shortcrust pastry, which we then top with an all-butter puff pastry lid before baking until golden and crisp. Just the thing for a chilly evening when some serious comfort food is very much needed.

Cauliflower Cheese & Broccoli Pie

When we dreamt up our Cauliflower Cheese & Broccoli Pie, we had one ambition: to create a veggie pie that could go toe-to-toe with any meaty rival. And we figured the best way to do that would be to take our favourite bit of a Sunday roast, the mighty cauliflower cheese, and put it in a pie. Which is what we did.

After weeks of experimentation here at the Higgidy kitchen, we arrived at a punchy combo of extra mature Cheddar, crumbly Red Leicester and tangy Tuxford & Tebbutt Stilton. Big, hearty flavours, and the perfect foil for the tender cauliflower and broccoli. Baked inside our spelt shortcrust pastry, which we top with a ciabatta and thyme crumb, we think it might give even best meat pies a run for their money.

Roasted Sweet Potato & Feta Pie

Making a really good veggie pie takes a bit of thought. You need to be crafty. Good, punchy flavours are a must, but the real secret, in our humble opinion, is to make it a celebration of contrasts: of textures, tastes and colours.

A fine example is our Roasted Sweet Potato & Feta Pie. Soft sweet potato (from our good friends at Barfoots, just down the road in Chichester); tart, salty feta (the proper stuff from Greece), punchy red chilli; crisp pumpkin seed topping… this pie has it all. It’s soft, crunchy, spicy, sweet, vibrant and comforting, all at the same time.

Chicken & Ham Hock Pie

There’s something very satisfying about a simple thing done well. A chicken and ham pie is a good example. It’s not fancy. It’s not posh. But when made with love and care – and some really good ingredients – it really is a joy to behold.

We make ours with tender free-range chicken and juicy outdoor bred ham, which we get from our good friends at Packington Free Range in Staffordshire. They’ve been a family business for a good 80 years and are sticklers for provenance, sustainability and welfare.

And you can really taste it in the meat, which we slowly simmer with crème fraîche, white wine, and a splash of stock. All that remains is to top it with our all-butter puff pastry and bake it until golden. The perfect way to lift the spirits after a busy day.

Our passion for pies is at the core of everything we do. We can’t wait to see what our brilliant teams create in the future – do keep your eyes peeled for any new additions to our range later this year.

What’s your favourite Higgidy pie? We’d love to hear your thoughts and what you enjoy them with, so please do pop us an email via thekitchen@higgidy.co.uk or chat to us on social media @higgidy.