Big little Pies

INDIVIDUAL BEEF PIES WITH OYSTERS (serves 6)

INGREDIENTS

3tbsp vegetable oil; 2kg shin of beef, diced; sea salt and freshly ground black pepper; 2 shallots, peeled and diced; 500ml beef stock; 250ml British bitter; a little plain flour, for rolling out; 500g ready-made puff pastry; 2 egg yolks, for egg wash

Large bunch of flat-leaf parsley; 100g sourdough bread, roughly chopped; zest of 1 lemon; 12 just-shucked oysters in their shells

6 x 12.5cm pie dishes

METHOD

1. Heat the oil in a very large, non-stick casserole pan then fry the meat, in batches, until well browned all over. Transfer each batch to a plate as you do it and season well.

2. Once all the meat has been browned, return it to the pan with the shallots and pour over the stock and beer. Cover, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer gently for two hours.

3. Spoon into a large shallow dish and cool. You can make the stew up to a day in advance and chill in the fridge until you want to assemble the pies.

4. Preheat the oven to 200˚C (180˚C fan)/400˚F/gas 6. Lightly dust a clean work surface with a little flour then roll out the pastry until it is 2mm thick.

5. Using the top of one of the pie dishes as a guide, cut out six circles slightly larger than the dishes, then fill the pie dishes with stew (we used mini ovenproof saucepans). 6. Brush the edges of the pastry lids with the egg wash then turn over and lay on top of the dishes and seal around the edges. Brush the tops with egg wash, sit the pies on a large baking tray and bake for 40 minutes, until the pastry is crisp and golden.

7. While the pies are in the oven, prepare the oysters. Put the parsley and bread into a food processor and blitz to make fine breadcrumbs. Add the lemon zest and blitz again. Season well.

8. Arrange the oysters on a baking tray, spoon the crumb mixture over the top and bake on the top shelf of the oven for 10 minutes.

9. To serve, pop the pies onto plates with two oysters per person.