6 Pies For The 6 Nations

The Six Nations Championships have begun and rugby fans will be glued to their TV screens until mid-March. If you’re hosting people at yours to watch the games then you’ll have to think of what to feed your sports-loving buddies and nothing says watching a match like a good pie.

Get in the spirit of the competition and match your pies to the teams playing. It’s a bit ambitious to try and do them all in one go, but good on you if you manage it. Here are the six types of pie we think best suit each of the nations.

It may look like a pie, but in Wales it’s called an oggie and it’s filled with tasty ingredients you associate with the valleys. That means succulent cubes of lamb and bright slices of peppery leek for added flavour. The Spruce Eats has a recipe to show you how it’s done right from making the pastry to serving it with pickled onions and chutney. If you’d prefer it hot, then gravy and peas is also a good combo.

When it comes to Ireland it’s got to be potatoes and if you don’t fancy going down the route with them mashed on top, then have a go at this alternative from A Spicy Perspective. You get a double whammy when it comes to carbs with both a pastry base and sliced potatoes inside. Just what you need while watching Ireland try to defend their title.

If you just learn how to make one pie during the Six Nations, then the Scotch pie is a good way to go. It’s incredibly versatile, meaning you’ll be knocking it up for picnics and family outings once you’ve got the technique down. As Keef Cooks points out, it’s not so easy to get mutton these days, so most people use lamb instead.

For something quite different to the other recipes, try Memorie di Angelina’s erbazzone. Instead of relying so heavily on the meat, this pie focuses on green vegetables like chard. The main ingredients are boosted with pancetta and parmesan to give it super-charged flavour. We predict this will be the surprise hit of your pie spread

As a nation of pie lovers, it’s hard to narrow it down to just one pie to represent England, so you may have your own ideas. You might be partial to a pork pie and fancy having a go at making one yourself or perhaps chicken and mushroom is a favourite in your house. For our purposes though, we’re going for the classic steak and kidney pie. Have a look at Titli’s Busy Kitchen to see how it’s done.

No match day is complete without dessert and the French certainly know how to do a sweet pie. But move over tarte tatin, because there’s a new recipe in town. We’re talking crumbling pastry, the smoothest chocolate filling ever and a good dollop of cream on top. This is a French silk pie and once you’ve tried the Pastry Affair’s recipe for it, your friends will be asking for it all the time.