The Thrifty Cookbook: 476 Ways to Eat Well With Leftovers (47 page)

Heat the remaining oil or fat in the frying pan, then add the potato mixture, pressing it down with the back of a wooden spoon to make an even patty that fills it to the edges. Cook over a moderate heat until golden underneath.

Break it up a little and turn over the lumps to brown the other side. Unlike a frittata or tortilla, bubble and squeak will not always hold together and, to my mind, is best served in a rough mountain of golden cabbagy crags. If yours does come out of the pan in one piece, you can cut it into wedges for serving.

To make individual patties
Shape the mixture with your hands and, if you like a real crust, dust the patties with plain flour. You can either freeze these for later or shallow-fry them as on the previous page. Alternatively, brush them with melted butter or oil, place on a baking tray on the top shelf of an oven preheated to 220°C/Gas Mark 7 and cook for about 10 minutes on each side, until well browned.

Rösti
Instead of using mashed potato and cabbage, grate cold boiled waxy potatoes (such as Charlottes or Jersey Royals) quite coarsely before cooking in one large or several small patties. You can mix carefully with other cooked vegetables, if you like. Use any combination of grated leftover root vegetables, including turnip, celeriac, swede, carrots and sweet potato.

Brussels sprouts, broccoli or kale
These can all be used in place of the cabbage.

Potato and celeriac mash
Mixing cooked mashed celeriac in with the potato mash adds a whole new dimension. Play around – you’ve nothing to lose by using spring onions instead of ordinary ones, or adding a teacup of grated carrot or a teaspoon of grainy mustard to the mix before frying.

Sweet potatoes
Substitute these for ordinary potatoes; they’re great with an equal quantity of cooked chopped leeks mixed in. Crumble in a little soft goat’s cheese and chopped thyme, if you have them.

Cheese and herbs
This is entirely a matter of taste. A handful of any crumbled or grated hard cheese will work very well added to the potato and cabbage mix with some finely chopped thyme or parsley.

Parsnip and apple
A really amazing combination that rather turns bubble and squeak on its head. I make small patties from raw ingredients, using a large grated parsnip and a couple of grated dessert apples, bound with a medium egg. Add some torn pancetta or browned bacon, if you like. Dust with plain flour and shallow-fry in hot oil or butter. Really good served alongside sausages.

Trinxat
This is the Spanish way with bubble and squeak, using potatoes, turnips, chicory, spring greens, garlic, thyme and bacon, all in a delicious combination. Roughly mash the cooked potatoes and turnips. Steam or boil chopped chicory and/or spring greens until tender and allow to cool. Mix the two together with a little chopped garlic and thyme. Fry some chopped bacon or pancetta until crisp and keep it to one side. Then fry the potato mix in the bacon fat until heated through and browning in places. Serve with the bacon pieces on top.

Pytt-i-panna is a hash of particularly Scandinavian bent that you can adapt for almost any leftover meat, using chopped boiled potatoes or mash and an egg or not, as you like. This recipe comes from my Swedish friend, Christine, but, again, the amounts are only indications – just work with what you have available.

Serves 2

1 tablespoon oil, lard or butter

1 onion, chopped

4-5 teacups cold boiled potatoes, cut into cubes

2-3 teacups (about 300g) diced leftover meat (ham, bacon and sausage are traditional
)

½ teacup breadcrumbs, lightly browned in a dry frying pan (optional) salt and pepper

Heat the oil or fat in a large frying pan, add the onion and potatoes and cook until beginning to brown. Go gently – you don’t want the potatoes to break up. Add the chopped meat and cook until thoroughly heated through. Season to taste. If you feel the need for some crunch, scatter toasted breadcrumbs on top.

Serve piled on to a plate, topped with a fried egg, if you like, and some pickled beetroot if you happen to have any.

Hash browns
Use boiled or roast potatoes and mash them roughly in a bowl. Add a sprinkling of raw spring onion (or an ordinary onion that has been fried until soft and brown), any chopped herbs you fancy, and some fried pancetta, bacon or lardons. Add a beaten egg to the mix if you like, then shallow-fry as one big cake or individual patties until golden brown. Sprinkle some herbs on top and serve with Chilli Jam (see
page 45
) or Onion Marmalade (
page 42
) for a perfect lunchtime snack.

Lamb with parsnips or sweet potato
Tear or dice the meat before adding to cooked diced or mashed vegetables. Add a pinch of ground cumin to the mix before frying.