It's British Pie Week!

Call me cynical, but it may well be that British Pie Week isn't a 'proper' designated week, in the sense that there's no time off from the office, no 'bearded man in awkward hat-of-thorns' associated with it and there's no sense of a charitable whip-round in aid of it. More to the point, it's primarily promoted by Jus-Rol, purveyors of pastry across the UK and, co-incidentally, a key ingredient in any humble pie.



That aside, I like a pie as much as the next man and if there's an excuse to get amongst one, count me in. Besides, I already have some pastry in the freezer (yes, it's Jus-Rol) so technically I've not sold-out to participate.

To get things off to an excellent start, use Rick Stein's chorizo and butter bean stew recipe for the innards, then top and tail with pastry. Incidentally, the recipe comes from Rick's latest book, Coast to Coast -- read my review on the delicious. website here and buy the book from Amazon here.

Of course, for a quick route to success, get hold of a pie from Higgidy Pies -- they're the same pies you'll find in EAT sandwich shops, and available in selected Sainsbury's stores.

British Pie Week runs until Sunday 8th March 2009. Click here for more information.