– Ingredients

Makes 8 pies
1.5kg oyster blade steak
1 large onion, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, roughly sliced
5 mushrooms
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
2 small bay leaves
cup beef stock
1 can of stout (Guinness)
80g butter
60g plain flour
2 tablespoons Ketjap Manis (sticky soy)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Extra virgin olive oil (evoo) for frying
16 fresh shucked oysters
Pastry shells ready made

Method

– Heat a little olive oil in a large heavy based sauté pan, season the oyster blade and then seal on all sides, cooking the meat in batches so as not to overcrowd the pan.
– In a separate pan caramelize the chopped onion, carrot, celery and mushrooms. Mix the beef and the vegetables together, add the flour and stir for a few minutes until the flour is well distributed, then add the stout, bay leaves and thyme. Lastly add the soy. Put a lid on and put into the oven at 180C for two hours. Use the stock if you feel that it needs to be moistened further, or add during the cooking if it becomes too dry.
– Once cooked, leave the mixture to cool completely – overnight would be best, before you start making the pies.
– Unroll the pastry shell and line small pie tins, half fill with meat mixture, pop in 2 oysters per pie, fill with more meat mixture and then cover the meat with a pastry top. Cut a slit in the middle of the pastry top to let steam escape. Brush the pies with egg wash and into the oven for 15 minutes at 220C then turn the heat down to 200C for a further 10 minutes.
– Do not re-roll pastry tops from scraps of pastry.