A Christmas gift with a difference

Do you have lovely people that you want to say thank you to? I do and it struck me that they must get truck loads of chocolates, biscuits and bottles of wine – that they don't really enjoy but would never say.

I have two friends who have their own businesses locally and who have become friends over the last year – they are also on my list of taste testers so I know what they like to eat!

I know that one friend is a diabetic and they both prefer savoury to sweet and cheese in particular. Instead of buying gifts I thought they might prefer a savoury treat that could be eaten on the day of delivery or frozen.

Here are the photos of my gift to each - a Cheese, Potato and Onion Pie, to serve two :

the pastry lid, taken from the freezer

the filling in the portable foil tray

the pastry lid – rolled out, edged, vented

and egg washed

the pie straight from the oven

inside the pie

Would you like the recipe?

December thoughts – Posh Chilli – step by step 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

Coming up … a Christmas gift with a difference!

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!

Step by step photo guide up next ...

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 …

December thoughts – the lemon meringue “pie” photo guide

the piping bag – cut to measure

17cms or 6”½ in old money

the piping bag filled with curd -

snip the end when you're ready

the first layer of biscuit

the curd piped on top

the biscuit and curd layers repeated

topped with crushed meringue

the meringue drizzled with the Lemon, Gin & Tonic

sauce

For non alcoholic alternatives sprinkle with plain chocolate drops or crushed flake if you prefer milk chocolate or add if you like chocolate!

Next, an idea for the “lead up to” or “in-between” days.

December thoughts and your emergency dessert kit … the orange meringue “pie”

For the orange version you may want to try the Clementine Curd from M&S. Your recipe is the same as the lemon. If you want to add alcohol then you can try any of the orange liqueurs – Cointreau, Grand Marnier or Triple Sec to name but three!

If you are a Cointreau fan there's a Cointreau Noir – the original liqueur with Cognac and a Blood Orange version too.

If you're not bothered about Clementine Curd then use orange curd – Waitrose make an excellent product.

If you wanted to extend your emergency dessert kit then serve either version with a side scoop of vanilla ice cream – home-made, straight from your freezer.

You can scale this dessert up or down to suit your family and guests and taking into account the size of glasses you're using.

If you don't own shot or shooter glasses you could rummage around in the depths of your cupboards trying to locate those Martini glasses you know are in there somewhere. They would do nicely.

There's no skill required for these emergency desserts and the other bonus is that the ingredients are in your pantry ready for whenever the festive mood takes you!

December thoughts and your Emergency dessert kit

- what to do next!

You have two alternatives – a lemon and an orange – retro miniature versions of a Lemon Meringue Pie. You can serve these with or without alcohol.

For the lemon version :

begin with 2 crushed Amaretti biscuits – they

weigh 5g each approx so 10g in total

pipe 50g approx of lemon curd on top of the

biscuit

repeat the biscuit and the curd layers -

another 10g of Amaretti biscuits and 50g of curd

crush two mini meringues and place on top of

the layers

drizzle with lemon, gin and tonic sauce

alternatively, decorate with plain chocolate drops

for the grown-ups or bashed milk chocolate flake for the kiddies

If you want to add alcohol then add 1-2 teaspoons of Limoncello to the lemon curd before piping.

For the orange version …