Bubble and Squeak (no mice were harmed in the making of this breakfast)

Anyone would think my family subsists on mashed potato* - well not quite - although we are rather partial to it.  Invariably we always have leftover mash so I am always working out ways to use the leftovers the following day as part of my OCD-can't-throw-food-away personality.  We're also partial to good breakfast/brunch grub.  In fact one of the big things we miss about living in the US is a good diner breakfast.  Home fries, nice runny egg (sunny-side up of course!) and crispy bacon...or eggs benedict.  Yum.  I'm hungry just thinking about it.  All in all it means that if we have time breakfast can become a big deal in our house.

Saturday I was in cleaning mode and had my eyes on the fridge that really needed a deep-clean (q-tips at the ready people!).  In order to get the job done I was trying to empty the fridge as much as possible.  I was looking at leftover mash, white cabbage, bacon and eggs.  No thinking required, Bubble and Squeak seemed obvious.

I'm not quite sure of the origins of Bubble and Squeak but as far as I can tell its a pretty traditional British dish that involves mashing/mixing all your leftovers together and frying them up.  Most people go for the mash/cabbage mix (certainly my folks do) so it seemed like a logical choice.

The recipe - Bubble and Squeak

1 cup mashed potato

1 cup cooked cabbage, finely shredded (I used white but equally you could use spring greens etc)

2 rashers of bacon, cooked and finely chopped

1 tsp onion powder (alternatively use 1 small onion, I had none though - extremely unlike me!)

4 fresh basil leaves, finely chopped (I grew a ton so I've been trying to use it a lot - I feel so smug)

salt and pepper, a good grind of each (tee hee, grind)

1 egg

butter for cooking

1. Preheat the oven to 200C.

2. If you do not already have cooked cabbage start by cooking the cabbage.  In a saucepan heat a tablespoon of butter with a tablespoon of water until the butter is melted (I recently learnt this trick - it apparently emulsifies and coats the cabbage to give it tons of flavour - it does and I could happily eat just a bowl of cabbage cooked this way).  Put the shredded cabbage in the pan and cook until wilted.

3. In a large bowl, put the mashed potato, cabbage, bacon, onion powder, basil, salt and pepper and mash it all together with a fork until the ingredients are well combined.

4. Butter a small oven-proof frying pan and warm over a medium heat.  Mash the mix into the frying pan and press firmly down.  Then cook over the medium heat until the edges start to brown (about 5mins).  Dot butter all over the top and put the pan in the oven for 10mins.

5. In the interim, in a separate frying pan fry the egg sunny-side up until the white is cooked.  Unless you really don't like a runny egg please please please put a runny egg on top!

6. You may want to put the Bubble and Squeak under the grill to get the top nice and brown if it hasn't browned enough.  Ease the Bubble and Squeak out of the pan and serve with the egg on top!

Tuck in!

The recipe above serves 1/2 people depending on whom you're cooking for or if you do anything else with it.  Hubster wanted it all for himself so this served 1...equally we could have served half each with some sausages or beans (Heinz of course!).  Whatever you fancy.

*For example, the uber yummy sausage cakes.

Pot-Age Patties

Bangers and mash.  Its proper British grub and everyone in my family loves it.  We've even converted the hubby.

Banger's are sausages.  I don't know why we call them "bangers" but this website provides quite an amusing explanation.  Strangely we also seem to call boobs bangers, in fact it was yelled at me the other day from some workmen.  "Oi luv!  You've got some great bangers!".  Yes, its every girl's dream being yelled at that she's got a good rack by the "panel" at a building site.  I have NO idea why boobs are also called bangers and I sincerely hope it bears no correlation with the sausage explanation.  Anyway...

My father looked after le Pose on Saturday night as hubby was off on a football training weekend (American not soccer) and I had been invited to an old friend's birthday party (literally known her my entire life from bump).  Just before I left he made their dinner - Bangers and mash - Posie's favourite.  Why is this important?  Simple, there was a ton of left over mashed potato and half a pack of uncooked sausages so I whipped up this little recipe...

The recipe - Pot-Age Patties with a Honey-Mustard Dressing (get it? Pot (potato) Age (sausage) well I liked it)

The patties:

5 medium sized potatoes, boiled and mashed with a little milk and butter

4 large pork sausages, casings removed leaving just the meat (you could also use store-bought sausage meat)

1 medium red onion, finely chopped

3 baby portabella mushrooms, finely chopped

1 egg

plain flour for dredging
olive oil for frying

The dressing:

1 tbsp honey

1 tbsp Bulldog Mustard (or other coarse grain mustard)

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp lemon juice


A salad of some description - I used a pre-bagged mix.


1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6.


2. Put all the ingredients for the patties in a bowl and mash together with a fork then get it good and combined with a wooden spoon (or your mitts).

3. Grab a handful of the mix and shape it into patties about an inch thick (this recipe makes about 12 patties).  Dredge the patties in the plain flour.

4. Heat some oil (I used olive oil - my mother's close friend lives on an olive grove in Tuscany so I have an enormous can of incredible olive oil from their grove) in a large (preferably non-stick) frying pan or flat griddle.  Cook until golden brown on each side (about 5mins) then transfer the patties onto a baking sheet and cook for another 20mins.


5. While the patties are in the oven make the dressing.  Simply put all the ingredients into a bowl and whisk to combine.


6. Artfully place some lettuce on a plate (artfully place lettuce on a plate?  Seriously Lucy?!), put a couple of patties on top and drizzle (yes drizzle) the dressing all over.

Ah yes, artful salad.

7. EAT!


This was really tasty for a fairly light lunch made for my dad whilst Pose was asleep.  The sausage wasn't too overpowering but gave all the seasoning you needed (although I am always happy to add more sausage - British sausages were one of the biggest things I missed when I lived in the US and was the hardest thing to get a hold of.  The other was strong cheddar cheese.  Yes, I'm a cheese and sausage girl apparently).  To make it more brunch/hangover friendly it would be great without the salad  but with a 3min poached egg on top (cook it longer by all means, I just like my eggs nice and runny).

Enjoy :)