• Serves: Makes 20 canapés
• Preparation time: 10-15 minutes
• Cooking time: 1½-2 hours

Ingredients:

• 225g/8oz lean stewing or braising steak such as boneless shin, feather or chuck steak, cut into 1cm/½inch cubes
• 5ml/1tsp dried oregano
• Salt and freshly milled black pepper
• 10ml/2tsp sunflower oil
• 1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
• 25g/1oz smoked back bacon, chopped or pancetta cubes
• 1 garlic clove, peeled and finely chopped
• 10ml/2tsp sun-dried tomato paste
• 150ml/¼pint red wine or good, hot beef stock
• 1 x 227g can chopped tomatoes
• 15-25g/½-1oz black or green olives, roughly chopped
• 200g/7oz filo pastry sheets, thawed if frozen
• 50g/2oz butter, melted
• Fresh small oregano leaves, to garnish

Method:

1. To make the filling, place the beef in a large bowl, season, add the dried oregano and mix well.
2. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and cook the beef for 4-5 minutes turning occasionally until brown.
3. Add the onion, bacon or pancetta and garlic to the frying pan and cook for 2-3 minutes until the onion is soft but not brown. Add the tomato paste, wine or stock, chopped tomatoes and olives.
4. Spoon into a small casserole dish and bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer for 1½-2 hours, stirring occasionally. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4, 180°C, 350°F.
5. To prepare the filo pastry, brush the filo sheets with the melted butter and with a sharp knife cut into 60 x 6cm/2½inch squares. Lightly grease 2 mini muffin tins and line each hole with three buttered filo squares, placing each one at a slightly different angle and gently press down.
6. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes until golden and crisp. Remove the tins from the oven and gently transfer the canapés to a metal cooling rack and set aside.
7. Place the canapés on a serving platter, spoon about 10ml/2tsp of the filling into each, garnish with the fresh oregano and serve immediately.

For extra speed, make the filo canapés cases the day before and carefully store in an airtight container until required. You can also make the filling the day before and store in the refrigerator. Just remember to reheat thoroughly until piping hot before spooning into the canapé cases.