Star chef creates beef and haggis pie to celebrate St Andrew’s Day

MasterChef: The Professionals winner Gary Maclean created the pie as part of a campaign to celebrate St Andrew’s Day.

Gary Maclean shapes the St Andrew’s pie (Beeline/PA)

A leading Scottish chef has created a special pie to celebrate St Andrew’s Day.

Gary Maclean, who won Masterchef: The Professionals in 2016, has created his special St Andrew’s Pie as part of a campaign to raise the profile of Scotland’s national day.

He created the pie, which combines Scotch beef and haggis, as part of the ongoing campaign led by Glasgow’s Kestrel Brewing Company to revitalise the saint’s day.

He hopes it will become a signature dish in households, bars and restaurants on the day.

The pie takes about one hour to prepare and is the star of a three-course St Andrew’s Day menu designed by Mr Maclean.

The starter is a one-pan, winter veggie dish with roasted Scottish roots, kale, pearl barley and pickled shallots; while the dessert is a simple-to-make custard tart with bramble sorbet.

The chef said: “Burns Night has haggis, tatties and neeps. It’s time for our National Day to have our own dish.

“I love a good steak pie, but I wanted to make it even more Scottish, so I decided to add haggis, which brings a real depth of flavour, without it overtaking the dish.

“It’s easy, comforting, and a great winter dish that people can gather around at the table at home or in a pub or restaurant.

“In these tough times, it’s more important than ever that we all get together. St Andrew’s Day is a great time to celebrate both our friends and family but also our Scottish heritage.

“It’s time we had a celebration worthy of our patron saint and I hope this St Andrew’s Pie can help.”

Kestrel have estimated that Scottish supermarkets and the hospitality industry would be missing up to £40 million by not making St Andrew’s Day more of a celebratory occasion.

Nigel McNally, CEO of Kestrel Brewing Company, said: “St Andrew’s Day generally slips by as a bit of a non-event, which is a great shame for a very proud nation, but also a missed opportunity for everyone to come together and express how wonderful modern-day Scotland is and what it means to be Scottish.”

“We asked Gary to come up with something authentically Scottish that would be easy to prepare, but special enough to live up to the occasion and he’s done it with typical spirit and passion. We think it’s an absolute winner.”