Saturday the 22nd of September was the very first Pie Festival in Melton Mowbray, That’s right a festival about pie what’s not to love!!

People had the opportunity to enter the pies to be judged earlier in the week by a selected group of foodies and pie lovers from the local area and then sell them over the weekend on their stalls.

Now with it been the first one I wasn’t really sure what to expect, would the town be full? Would it have one stall with a little old lady peddling a really old pork pie? But when I got there I was pleasantly surprised with what I saw, there were about 15 different stalls all set out exhibiting and selling what they had entered into the competition earlier in the week. Everything we saw was fantastic it really was a great showcase of what this pie making town really had to offer.

There was a really good mix of people at the festival it wasn’t just for foodies , it brought families into the town to really join in the fun and the children’s pie making stand really gave kids the opportunity to learn about food, how to make food and where it all comes from, in the last 2 weeks were school dinners have been pushed into the spotlight again and questions have been asked of children’s knowledge of food this really showed signs that this is a town that wants to change that way of thinking and get them involved.

We ended up purchasing 3 savoury and 2 sweet pies to bring home and we weren’t disappointed with what we had.
My favourite was one made by a little tea room in the town Miss B’s of Melton, they had a foraged hedge row pie on offer and it was stunning, the pastry was so crisp and crumbly and really buttery but its what’s encased that really made me smile, it was this sweet sharp filling with apples and blackberries that made you purse your lips when you bit into it finished with a spoonful of clotted cream there isn’t anything else that you could ask for.
If your visiting the town then make sure that you stop by and see if you can get one because you can really see why they won an award over the weekend.

It’s going on again today and I’ve just been through the town and again its packed out, This is the first Pie festival in the town but it will not be the last by a long shot!

Food has always been and will always be a love of mine, it brings back memories and evokes emotions in me in the same way a film a picture a pome or a song does in someone else.

When I first had this dish it reminded me of all of the cooking shows I’ve ever seen about Mexico and the passion that they put into their food and I wanted to share it with you

Serves 4

50g of pumpkin seeds
1 Serrano (hot green chilli) chopped
A large handful (about 25g) of coriander leaves- If like me you don’t like coriander parsley works just as well
2 garlic cloves peeled
150ml of sunflower oil
The juice of 1 lime
2 spring onions chopped
7g of Parmesan cheese, grated
16-20 cleaned kind scallops or 32 queen scallops in the shells
25g of melted butter

Step 1- For the sauce put the pumpkin, seeds, chilli, coriander, garlic, oil, lime juice, spring onions, Parmesan cheese and half a teaspoon of salt into a food processor and blend to a smooth paste

Step 2- preheat the grill to high. Put the scallops onto a baking sheet brush each one generously with melted butter and season with salt and pepper. Grill the King scallops for two minutes or Queens scallops for one minute

Step 3- lightly spread about 1 teaspoon of the pumpkinseed sauce over the scallops (about half a teaspoon for the Queens) and grill for a further 1 to 2 minutes (one minute the Queens) until they are cooked through and the source has just started to colour. Place on four warm plate and serve immediately.

I hope you enjoy this as much as I do, it’s great with a cold beer or glass of white and even better shared with friends