Beef, oyster and stout cottage pies

1.For shortcrust pastry, place flour and salt in a bowl and rub ini butter until mixture resembles breadcrumbs. Add egg and milk and gently knead into a dough. Form into a disc, wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for at least 30 minutes.

2.Heat 50gm butter and oil in a heavy-based pan over medium heat, add onion and sauté gently until very tender (7-8 minutes). Add beef and cook until juice renders, then add flour and Worcestershire sauce and cook for 1-2 minutes. Add stout and bring to the boil, then season to taste. Reduce heat to low and simmer until meat is tender (2-2½ hours). Cool, then stir in oysters.

3.Place parsnips and potatoes in a saucepan of cold salted water, bring to the boil over high heat and cook until tender (10-15 minutes). Drain and mash or press through a potato ricer and return to the saucepan. Immediately add buttermilk and remaining butter, season to taste and stir over low heat to combine.

4.On a lightly floured surface roll out pastry until 5mm thick. Line the base of six 200ml pie tins, line with baking paper and fill with pastry weights and refrigerate for 30 minutes to rest. Preheat oven to 180C. Blind-bake pastry until golden on the edges (10-15 minutes), then remove baking paper and weights and bake until golden (8-10 minutes), then cool.

5.Divide filling evenly among pastry cases. Fill a piping bag fitted with a large star nozzle with potato and parsnip purée and pipe onto pies. Bake until tops are golden and the filling is hot (25-30 minutes), then serve hot with peas.