Beef, olive & red onion canapés

Don't bore your guests with the usual party canapes, impress them with these little lovelies instead

• Preparation: 15 mins
• Cooking: 120 mins
• Serves: 20

What you need:

• 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

What you do:

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 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.

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