The filling is enough for either two pies or one pie and one stew. Since the cooking time is so long it is worth making one and freezing one but if you want to halve the recipe you will just need to keep an eye on the liquid as it slow cooks.

Ingredients
6 tbsp vegetable oil 
6 tbsp plain flour 
1½ tsp salt 
½ tsp ground black pepper 
1kg beef shin, cut into 2cm chunks 
250g frozen soffritto
3 tbsp tomato purée 
3 garlic cloves, minced or very finely chopped 
3 sprigs of thyme 
2 bay leaves 
250g cooking chorizo, skin removed and cut into 1cm chunks 
250ml red wine 
750ml beef stock 
2 tsp sugar 
½ sweet smoked paprika 
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley 
320g sheet ready-rolled all-butter puff pastry 
320g sheet of ready-rolled short crust pastry.
1 egg yolk, beaten

Method
Preheat the oven to 160c. 

Heat 2 tbsps of the oil in an ovenproof casserole dish over high heat. When the oil is hot, reduce the heat to medium and add a batch of beef and fry until well browned. Don’t overcrowd your pan or the beef won’t brown properly so make sure there is some room around the pieces. Remove the beef to a bowl and set aside.  Add another batch of beef to the pan, adding more oil if needed.  Brown the remaining beef in batches, until all is cooked. Expect the browning to take around 20 minutes.

Put the chorizo into the hot pan and brown for 5-7 minutes. Put the chorizo in with the beef.

Reduce the heat to medium and add the soffritto and fry for 3-5 minutes until soft and translucent before adding the garlic. Cook for another minute or two until the garlic is soft. You should not need any more oil as the chorizo will have released quite a lot.

Once the garlic is soft, add the flour and cook stirring for a minute or two so that the raw flour taste has cooked out and then add the tomato purée and smoked paprika.

Add the wine slowly to the pan, scraping the bottom as you do to get of any stuck bits, Stir to fully incorporate the liquid and flour. Add the sugar and bay leaves and bring to a simmer, scraping the bottom of the dish with a wooden spoon to maximise flavour. Add the beef stock and stir through. Return the beef and chorizo to the pan and stir well. Cover and place in the oven for 2 hours.  

Stir every half an hour or so, scraping the bottom and sides. After 2 hours check that the beef is completely soft.

Meanwhile, fit the short crust pastry into your pie dish and put back in the fridge.  

Remove the casserole from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 180c. Remove the thyme and bay leaves from the dish then gently stir in the chopped parsley. Put to one side with the lid off to cool a touch.

Put a sheet of baking parchment over the pastry and pour in baking beans or rice. Cook for 15 minutes.

Remove the banking beans and parchment paper and cook for 10-12 minutes, until the pastry no longer looks ‘wet’.

Spoon the beef mixture into the pie dish.  

Brush the edges of the chilled puff pastry with the egg yolk and cover the pie dish, pressing the pastry into the edge of the pie dish to seal. Cut a hole in the centre of the pastry then brush all over with egg yolk. Place the pie back in the oven for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is a deep golden colour.  

Original recipe from Marcus Wareings New Classics