Who doesn’t love a good pie, with soft meat in an unctuous gravy? As the cold nights roll in dust off your slow cooker and tuck in.

Serves 6

For the filling:

1.5kg beef shin, diced into chunks

Glug of olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced

2 celery sticks, diced

2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed

500g mixed mushrooms chopped

500ml bottle of stout or dark ale

500ml good quality beef stock

2 bay leaves

Sprig of fresh thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

1tlb butter

1tlb plain flour

 For the Pastry

650g plain flour

250g cold butter, diced

Pinch of salt

Ice water

Egg to glaze

Method:

Brown the beef shin in batches before adding to the slow cooker (if you don’t have a slow cooker, you can do this in a casserole dish on a low heat in the oven). Soften the onions, mushrooms, garlic, celery and carrots in a little olive oil and also add to the slow cooker. Pour over the beef stock and ale, add the herbs and cook on low for 8 hours.

I make my pastry in a food processor, as this reduces handling, and in my opinion gets the best results. Simply add the flour, butter and salt to the mixer and process until the mixture resembles fine bread crumbs. Slowly drizzle in ice cold water until you have a dough – I find around 5tlb will suffice, but sometimes a little more or less is required. Wrap the dough in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

If you don’t own a food processor you will need to make the pastry by hand. Add the flour, butter and salt to a large bowl and rub the flour into the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Again, drizzle in the water, just a bit at a time before a dough forms.

Pre-heat the oven to 160°c/140°fan. Cut off approximately two thirds of the dough and roll out to fit a 28cm round loose base pie tin, or a 23cm x 15cm rectangle tin. The dough wants to be about 3-5mm thick. Line the tin, leaving a couple of centimetres overhang, to allow for shrinkage. Line the pie base with foil and fill with baking beans. Blind bake the pastry for 15 to 20 minutes until it is starting to firm up, but hasn’t gained too much colour..

Meanwhile, melt the butter in the pan before adding the flour to make a roux. Cook this for a couple of minutes. Strain the cooked beef (removing the bay leaf and thyme sprigs), reserving the liquid. Slowly incorporate the cooking liquid into the roux, a ladle full at a time, until you have a rich, thick gravy. Adjust the seasoning

Remove the baking beans and foil from the pie dish and add the beef and vegetables. Pour over the gravy, reserving any excess to serve with the pie. Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid (Any left-over pastry and be used for decoration or for jam tarts). Again, your pastry should be about 2-3mm in thickness.

Beat the egg and brush a little on the top edge of the pie base. This will help the lid to adhere properly. Add the lid, before trimming any excess pastry with a knife. Glaze the pie lid with the remaining egg and bake for 40 minutes until golden. Allow the pie to rest for 5 to 10 minutes before lifting the loose base out of the tin. Serve with potatoes, seasonal veg and any left -over gravy – or if so inclined with a hearty serving of chips.