Name: Hairy Bikers Shropshire fidget pie recipe
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Yield: Serves: 4–6
Cuisine: British
Ingredients: 3 medium potatoes, peeled and finely sliced; 2 onions, sliced; 2 Bramley cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced; 3 slices Sweetcure gammon, de-rinded and cut into strips; 40g butter (1½ oz); 2 tsp brown sugar; salt and black pepper; ½ tsp ground nutmeg; 2 tsp sage or a small bunch of chopped fresh sage; 150 ml pork or vegetable stock (5 fl oz); 225g shortcrust pastry (8 oz); Milk or beaten egg, to glaze

By Hairy Bikers

published 27 June 2022

Shropshire fidget pie is a hearty, traditional British bake made with gammon, cooking apples, onions and potatoes.

No one knows exactly where fidget (or fidgety) pie comes from, but there are different versions of it in most of the counties around The Midlands. It's also a complete mystery where that strange name comes from. One story suggests the pie used to be five sided, making it easy for farmers to hold in one hand. What is usually agreed is that it marries pink salty gammon with the sweet tang of cooking apples for a really fabulous flavour. You can make it as a raised pie with pastry on the outside too, but for ease here the biking boys have just used a readymade pastry topping.

Ingredients

3 medium potatoes, peeled and finely sliced
2 onions, sliced
2 Bramley cooking apples, peeled, cored and sliced
3 slices Sweetcure gammon, de-rinded and cut into strips
40g butter (1½ oz)
2 tsp brown sugar
salt and black pepper
½ tsp ground nutmeg
2 tsp sage or a small bunch of chopped fresh sage
150 ml pork or vegetable stock (5 fl oz)
225g shortcrust pastry (8 oz)
Milk or beaten egg, to glaze

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Method

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
Lightly fry the potatoes, onions and apples in the butter until just golden.
Remove with a slotted spoon and keep hot.
Place the gammon in the pan and fry lightly in the remaining fat.
Layer the gammon and the potatoes, onions and apples in a 1 litre (1½ - 2 pint) pie dish, seasoning with sugar, salt, pepper, sage and nutmeg. Pour on the stock.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the pastry and cover the pie, trimming the edges. Make a steam hole and decorate with the trimmings. Brush with milk or egg.
Bake for 30 mins, then reduce the oven to 170°C/325°F/gas 3 for a further 10-15 mins or until the pie is golden brown.

Top tip for the Hairy Bikers' Shropshire fidget pie

Bramley apples are particularly good for cooking and baking with as they have the right balance of sweet and sharpness and they hold their shape well rather than baking down into a saucy mush. If you can't find them, green Granny Smiths are a good substitute.

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Simon King and David Myers are the fantastic duo that make up the Hairy Bikers and are best known as Si and Dave. The Hairy Bikers have several cookbooks published including How to Love Food and Lose Weight and Eat for Life. Hairy Biker recipes are always triple tested and try to be as fuss-free as possible so you can trust the timings. Si and Dave have also had several hit cooking shows as they remain as one of the UK’s favourite cookery duos.