Editor's December Pick - Posh Chilli

Editor's note: This recipe and photo-guide combo is coming up on it's second blog birthday which is hard to believe. I still maintain that this is the only one I've seen in my limited culinary adventures that suggest using something other than mince as the base, and after trying, it's a wonderful way of zhushing it up!

December thoughts – Posh Chilli method

Seal the diced steak in batches in a large frying pan using a drop of rapeseed oil then set aside in your slow cooker.

Gently fry your onion and garlic, using another drop of rapeseed oil if necessary. Add the spices and cook together so that the spices are able to release their deliciousness!

Add the passata and the chilli sauce and bring to the boil. Add to the sealed diced steak and then slow cook for 4 hours. Turn off and then leave to cool. Freeze in boxes to suit your needs – remember – you can pull out two boxes if you need to, rather than have to throw away from a larger quantity.

Defrost thoroughly in your fridge. Re-heat gently on the stove adding your kidney beans, sweet baby peppers or chorizo.

For the optional extras :

Use a large frying pan and fry the chorizo gently so that it releases its oil. Set the chorizo aside, leaving the oil in the pan.

Sauté the sliced, sweet baby peppers in the chorizo oil.

If you enjoy a spicy hit you can use mixed beans in a chilli sauce instead of ordinary red kidney beans.

Serve with rice if you like but I think it's fab in a bowl with a blob of sour cream served with some rustic bread of your choice on the side or with wraps with bowls of relish of your choice – mango would work well.

Freezing serves dishes like chilli or curry very well – the freezing process allows the spices to develop. Here's a thought – you could double the recipe and serve as a supper or as part of a larger supper buffet. Hot food seems to go down so well and it's easier to cook and serve.

A great New Year Party idea – but you might want to double the recipe!

And now for a photo guide:

Sealed diced steak in the slow cooker

softened onion and garlic

the four “c”s – cumin, coriander

cinnamon and chilli

the four “c”s cooked out with the onion

the chilli – ready to slow cook and perform its magic!

glistening with the beans and a blob of

sour cream

ditto with flat breads

Editor's December Pick - Posh Chilli

Editor's note: Everyone I know has a go-to recipe for chilli. It's such a staple that whatever your chosen method - packet, from scratch, ready meal - you get stuck in a rut with it and can make it in your sleep. Same meat, same veg, same "secret" (I can't be the only one that uses Worcestershire sauce, but some apparently use chocolate or .. coffee?!). You get a bit desensitized to the process and to the taste when you've made it so often in the same way. Now is a fantastic time to forget what you usually do, follow along with this recipe and rediscover why it's such a well-loved meal.

December thoughts – and what's forgotten

We're so focused on the day that just when you thought it was safe … there are the days leading up to and those in-between too.

Here's a dish that will suit either of the above and it uses your favourite friend – the slow cooker.

Make a chilli but not any old chilli - when I think of chilli I think of minced beef. Another confession – I hate minced beef. What makes this chilli special, nay posh, is it uses diced steak and slow cooks it. The only remaining task is to add the red kidney beans and any garnishes. A word of warning – just in case you've forgotten – do not slow cook the kidney beans.

Posh Chilli

Serves 4

500g diced steak

A glug of rapeseed oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of roasted garlic paste or 2 cloves crushed

tsp = teaspoon

half tsp ground cumin

half tsp ground coriander

half tsp ground cinnamon

quarter to half tsp chilli powder (to taste, depends how much of a kick you like – I used a quarter tsp)

500g jar of passata

60ml sweet chilli sauce

390g can of red kidney beans, rinsed

optional extras :

150g small dice or sliced chorizo

sweet baby peppers, de-seeded and

finely sliced

Method up next …

From “The Ivy The Restaurant and its Recipes by AA Gill”.

It's rare if I don't alter a recipe in some way – the greatest compliment I can give is not to interfere.

Quite simply the best fishcakes in the whole world!

The Ivy Fishcakes

(makes 8 – freeze what you don't use)

800g dry mashed potato, no cream or butter added

650g salmon fillet poached in fish stock and flaked

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp anchovy essence

3 tsp English mustard

salt and black pepper

Plain flour for coating

Mix together the potato, half the salmon, the ketchup, anchovy essence, mustard and seasoning until smooth. Fold in the rest of the salmon. Mould the mixture into 8 round cakes and refrigerate.

When you're ready to serve preheat the oven 180fan/200c/gas 6. Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry them until they are coloured on both sides. Bake for 10/15 minutes.

Quick tartare sauce

Hellmann's mayonnaise – approximately two

heaped tablespoons

Caper paste – 1 teaspoon

Cornichons – two, finely diced

Capers to taste

Mix the caper paste with the mayo and fold in the

diced cornichons and capers

Better still what about serving with a mornay sauce – excellent scaled down as a starter with the mornay drizzled over the top of the fishcake with crispy potatoes.

Then again how about a spoonful of pea pureé – mushy peas to me – set a small fishcake in the middle and then a liberal drizzle of curry sauce – yum!