Malkin Pie - a true regional speciality

                        

Malkin pie was created by the talented team at "Delicious from Home" Christine and Keith in celebration of the 400th anniversary of the Pendle Witch trails of 1612.

The spooky tale of witches, magic and curses in the shadow of Pendle Hill have inspired this carefully researched and deliciously imaginative pie. The Malkin pie is named after the tower  which was the home of "Demdike" one of the witches and is a new Lancashire classic.

Featuring all local ingredients the 5 layer pie has a shortcrust base infused with thyme which is then topped with locally sourced lamb, thyme, spices and mixed pulses (barley I think), this is then topped with braised leeks, carrots, swedes and celery and then marinated best beef steak and onions, another layer of dry cured bacon which is all rounded off by the wicca dumpling layer (suet crust with fresh chives).

This is a pie for when you are very hungry and is packed full of fantastic flavours, its recommended that its served with the specially mixed Spiced red cabbage chutney supplied with the pie which is a beautiful accompaniment of slow braised spiced red cabbage,apples, onions, spices, cinnamon, thyme, red wine vinegar and garlic.

You can get your hands on this very special pie at

• Sanwitches of Sabden
• Roaming roosters

and also Great Harwood farmers market (1st Sunday of the month), Barrowford farmers market (2nd Sunday of the month), Sawley farmers market (last Sunday of the month) and various other festivals and one off events. You can also order direct too via their website.

The Lancashire Food household thoroughly enjoyed their pie, reheated gently, a wonderful meal and the red cabbage providing a lovely contrast to the pie and ideal if you have been up Pendle Hill on a hike. 

Pendle Hill Cakes

I love looking at handwritten family recipe books and archives, the yellowing papers which hold our counties culinary heritage, recipes which are handed down from generation to generation. I have been kindly lent by my neighbour his families recipe book which I think dates from the early 1900's and runs through his Mother's early married life and their rich local cooking and baking heritage.

Within its bounds I have discovered a number of recipes which I have never heard of before, one of which is Pendle Hill Cakes ,which would appear to be a form of a sweet biscuit. The Pendle area of Lancashire is a wild and achingly beautiful place, forever associated with the infamous witch trails of 1612, interesting given that the recipe book is from the Leyland area at least 20 miles away from Pendle Hill.

Following the recipe in the book which didn't include an oven temperature or the length of time to bake for , we have baked the Pendle Hill Cake, and if we do say so ourselves its pretty delicious and definitely deserved to baked again. The resultant "cake"  is actually  in texture a biscuit,  what is it about "up north" where everything is a cake ! Chorley Cake, eccles cake  goosnargh cake, shortcake, etc, but they aren't cakes in the traditional sense.

On my recent visit to BBC Radio Lancashire I also made an appeal for "lost" forgotten food recipes so we will have to see what other culinary delicacies turn up. I can't trace any other recollections of the Pendle Hill Cake. The recipe contains flour, meal (I am assuming oatmeal), sugar, butter, egg and a little baking powder, then baked in a hot oven. The instruction said to roll out 1/4 inch thick and cut with a round cutter. So here we are ta dah ! the Pendle Hill Cake a re found classic.

The resultant "cake" is deliciously oaty and crumbly and stores well in an airtight tin. I haven't posted the full recipe as its still work in progress and still very variable when baked, humidity seems to make a big difference to the resultant "cake".