Beef and Mustard Pie

1. Heat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas 2. Toss the beef and flour together in a bowl with a little salt and pepper.
2. Heat a large casserole until hot, add half the rapeseed oil and enough beef to just cover the base, and fry until browned all over, then lift out and set aside. Repeat with the rest of the oil and beef.
3. Return all the beef to the pan, pour in the wine and cook until reduced by half, then add the stock, onion, carrots, thyme and mustard and season well.
4. Cover and cook in the oven for two hours, then take it out, taste for seasoning, fish out the thyme and leave to cool.
5. When you're ready to put it together, heat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
6. Tip the beef into a pie dish, brush the rim with beaten egg yolk, lay the pastry over the top and brush that with more egg.
7. Trim the pastry, leaving just enough to crimp the edges, then bake for 30 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
8. While that bakes, bring a pan of salted water to the boil, add the green beans and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until just tender, then drain and toss with the butter and a little black pepper.
9. Serve a generous spoonful of pie on each plate with the green beans alongside.

Tips from the ZestyPlate Kitchen

• Brown the beef in batches and give it room. That dark, caramelised crust is where most of the flavour starts.
• Let the filling go completely cold before the pastry goes on. Warm filling steams the underside and turns it soggy.
• A coat of egg yolk gives the pastry a deep, glossy finish in the oven.
• Reach for a proper wholegrain or English mustard. It carries the warm, savoury edge through the whole gravy.