Ice & Pies

Pieminister Christingle pie

On Friday evening I attended a blogging event in Bristol city centre called 'Ice & Pies' which basically involved getting together with a load of lovely bloggers, having a pie and then burning off the calories with a whizz round an ice skating rink! Festive and fun! I wanted to talk mainly about the pie as I spent most of the time I was ice skating clinging onto the side of the rink, so didn't have a spare hand to hold my camera!

The pie came courtesy of Pieminister in St Nick's market, which you should certainly pay a visit to if you haven't already. Bristol's premier supplier of delicious pies, Pieminister has become somewhat of an institution in the city and over a decade later the brand now supplies to the Queen as well as having won lots of awards and become a festival-goers staple.

In celebration of their new Christmas range, we were invited to try out some of the new flavours. There are four Christmassy pies available, and I chose the veggie version, Christingle. The gloriously crisp pastry case arrived seated on a cushion of creamy mash, and the honey roast parsnip, cheddar and chestnut filling was garnished with a generous scoop of minted mushy peas. It was incredible. I couldn't eat all of it as the portions are huge but what I liked most about it was that the pastry was really crisp (no soggy bottoms here!) the filling was really well thought out and packed in, definiely no scrimping, and the mash and peas didn't overwhelm the pie at all, it was all in perfect balance. It was also non greasy and full of flavour. And it looked amazing.

We ate our pies in the tiny but atmospheric St Nick's market shop whilst Christmas lights were switched on and music played to the crowds. It was very festive, and a pie was just the thing to tuck into on a chilly night. I thoroughly enjoyed it and I can't wait to try some other veggie pies from Pieminister (they also have a large range of meaty ones for the non-veggies!) If you don't live near Bristol you can find out more about where you can go for Pieminister pies on their website (you can also buy online!)

Thank you to Pieminister for a delicious dinner and At-Bristol for the ice skating; the Visit Bristol website has lots of ideas for fantastic things to do in Bristol over the festive season so have a look at the website for inspiration!

XO Amie