Squeak and bubble
Good old bubble and squeak is a much-loved dish in my house. Rather than one ingredient being ‘bubble’ and one ‘squeak’, the name is thought to refer to the sounds emanating from the frying pan as the dish is cooking. Nevertheless, I thought I’d reverse the title, to acknowledge that I’ve tipped the balance in this recipe towards greens rather than spuds. As so often, a handful of frozen peas can make up any shortfall of green goodness. A fried egg goes very nicely on top too…
Method
Heat the oil or other fat in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt and some pepper and fry gently for about 10 minutes until it starts to colour. If you're adding garlic and/or curry paste/powder, stir them into the onions now and cook for a minute or two.
Tip the spuds into the pan. If they aren’t already mashed, crush them roughly with a fork or masher, but keep the texture quite chunky. Let the heat penetrate the potatoes for a minute or two then add all the other veg, and any herbs or flavour bombs, with a little more seasoning. Stir together then press the whole lot down into a rough cake.
Now leave the veg cake to cook for several minutes, so that it can form a good golden-brown crust on the base. It’s tempting to move it but try not to: it’s better that the base is a little overbrowned than that the whole thing is underdone and sticks to the pan. (It still might stick a bit, but you should get some really good colour this way.)
When the cake is nicely browned underneath, flip it over with a spatula and cook the other side. (If you are scaling up quantities, and making a larger cake – one that pretty much fills the pan – you can cut it into halves or quarters when the first side is crisped, and flip over each half or quarter, one at a time.) Start to finish, your S and B might take 20 minutes or more.
Serve hot, topped with a fried egg if you like. Mustard or chilli sauce are also very good on the side.
Ingredients
1tbsp olive or vegetable oil (or lard or beef dripping)
1 large onion, thinly sliced
1–2 garlic cloves, chopped (optional)
About 150–200g cooked potatoes or cold mash (you can also use a mixture of roots such as spuds and celeriac or parsnips), ideally still skin-on
Sea salt and black pepper
Veg and flavourings:
Flavour bombs (optional): 1–2tsp curry paste or powder, or sliced olives, capers and/or chopped anchovies
Cooked greens: About 150–250g cooked kale, cabbage, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower and/or broccoli, roughly chopped or shredded
Uncooked greens: A handful of raw spinach, rocket or lettuce and/or 100g frozen peas
Herbs (optional): 1–2tbsp chopped parsley, chives or chervil, or a tiny bit of lovage
To serve (optional)
2–3 fried eggs