I bought a Brocklebys Pie from the South Notts Food Festival in the rain last weekend, having seen them at the Notts Food Fest a couple of weeks before. I had already bought too much there though and that meant I couldn’t carry any more, so I was glad they had popped up again.

Based just outside Melton Mowbray, Brocklebys Pies are third generation farmers and produce their own beef from a herd of Longhorn Cattle. All other ingredients for their pies are sourced from a 30 mile radius of their base.

Amanda says ‘All the chicken we use is free range, as is the pork that we us for the world famous Melton Mowbray pork pie we produce’

I bought the small Moroccan Lamb pie at £4.50, described as ‘Succulent pieces of home grown lamb cooked to a traditional North African recipe, encased in short crust butter pastry made with locally milled flour and glazed with free-range eggs from Windy Ridge Farm’

It really was delicious. Large peices of lamb, golden pastry, and the spices – oh wow. I think I could taste Cumin, Cinnamon, All Spice and coriander along with others. It tasted exactly like the Moroccan lamb tagine I’ve had a few times in Marrakesh (the country, not the restaurant in Nottingham) it was moist, but not runny and really filling.

The pastry cooked really evenly and the taste was amazing. I had it on Monday night for my dinner and was really upset that I had only bought one pie!

They do a huge range of pies, from Penguin Pie with smoked haddock, Wild Beaver pie with beef and ale (winner of the 2012 British Pie Awards), Wild Deer Pie with fallow deer and a Cheesy Potato Pie made with mature cheddar and Lincolnshire potatoes (obviously not one for me though) along with an Apple Pie and a Blackberry and Apple Pie.

I am so disappointed with myself for not buying more pies, and hope to see Brocklebys at more food festivals and farmers markets around Nottingham soon… Now, I’m off to eat everything in my freezer so I have enough room for when I do!