Mr Shaun Searley was previously head chef at Bistrotheque in east London and developed his cooking ethos at Paternoster Chop House in the City of London. He is now head chef at The Quality Chop House – a restaurant that works with small producers for high-quality ingredients. First founded in 1869, and reopened in November 2012, the “dining room, wine bar and butcher” seeks to replicate the feel of the original site while adding its own modern take on a menu that changes twice a day to keep up with seasonality. Here’s his take on an alternative Christmas dinner – 12-hour roast rib of dexter beef, confit potatoes, wild mushrooms, parfait and remoulade.

“A rib of beef is one of the best cuts. It can be expensive, but it feeds a lot of people,” says Mr Searley. “You’re getting different tastes and textures from one cut – the eye of the meat is really tender, you have the fat surrounding the eye, the chain [the long, ropy connective tissue] will cook a little bit further, and you have the crispy fat on top. You can just stick the beef in the oven and forget about it, do the remoulade ahead of time and the mushrooms cook quickly. The chips are the hardest thing to do, but they deliver on flavour – trust me. I think it’s important to spoil yourself at Christmas.”

For the beef:

• 1 three-boned rib of beef (around 3kg)
• Sea salt
• Freshly milled black pepper
• 1 large onion
• 1 large carrot
• ½ garlic bulb
• Sprig of thyme

For the confit potatoes:

• 1kg King Edward potatoes
• 300ml beef dripping
• 20g salt

For the wild mushrooms and chicken liver parfait:

• 250g girolle mushrooms
• 250g trompette mushrooms
• 250g chanterelle mushrooms
• 250g chestnut mushrooms
• 2 large shallots, finely diced
• Olive oil
• Butter
• 100ml dark chicken stock
• 50ml red wine
• 100g chicken liver parfait (can be purchased in The Quality Chop House shop)

For the celeriac remoulade with cobnuts and chickweed:

• 1 medium celeriac
• 250g mayonnaise
• 100g crème fraîche
• 50g Dijon mustard
• 50g wholegrain mustard
• 100g cobnuts (or hazelnuts)
• 50g chickweed (or watercress)
• Olive oil
• Pinch of salt
• Squeeze of lemon

**For the beef: **

Ask your butcher to chine the rib for you. This will make it easier to carve later on.

Score the fat in a criss-cross fashion and season generously with sea salt and freshly milled black pepper. Transfer to a cold and dry (no oil) pan on a low-to-medium heat. Once the fat has started to render, you can turn it up to a medium heat. This should take about five to 10 minutes or until the fat is golden brown all over.

Brown both sides of the beef, remove from the pan and throw in some roughly cut pieces of onion, carrot, garlic and thyme. Sit the beef on top of the vegetables and cook at 58°C for 12 hours. Carve into even slices.

For the confit potatoes:

Peel, wash and slice the potatoes as thinly as possible, then mix with the dripping and salt. Line a tray (around 20 x 20cm and 8cm deep) with parchment paper. Begin to layer the potatoes on top of each other, keeping it all as flat as possible.

Once the potatoes are all used, top with parchment paper and bake at 120°C for approximately three hours or until the potatoes are completely cooked through.

Sit a same-sized tray on top of the potatoes and add some heavy weights. Chill in the fridge overnight. Remove from the tray and cut into 1cm chips.

For the wild mushrooms and chicken liver parfait:

Add the mushrooms and shallots to a hot pan with some olive oil and butter. Stir fry for a couple of minutes, add the chicken stock and red wine, quickly reduce by half and serve with a large spoonful of parfait.

For the celeriac remoulade with cobnuts and chickweed:

Peel, thinly slice and shred the celeriac into thin strips. Mix together with the rest of the ingredients, except the nuts and chickweed. Toast the hazelnuts and sprinkle over the remoulade. Wash the chickweed, lightly dress with olive oil and salt, and add to the remoulade.

Final assembly:

Finally, bring all the elements together. Remove the bones from the beef and carve into even slices, and transfer the remoulade to a serving bowl. Ensure the confit potatoes and mushrooms are piping hot and correct the seasoning if necessary.