Bubble and squeak

Serves 4

Preparation time: 10 minutes 
Cooking time: 30 minutes

Ingredients
1 onion thinly sliced
50g butter
Oil
500g Brussel sprouts, sprout tops or cabbage, sliced
1kg cooked potatoes
Salt
Pepper

Method
Into a frying pan put half of the butter and ½ tbsp of oil, heat and then cook your onion for 3-5 minutes until soft and translucent.  Add the sprouts or cabbage to the pan, season and cook for another 3-5 minutes until starting to go golden.  Add the rest of the butter and, when melted, add the potatoes and seasoning and stir through so the potato and Brussels are mixed through.

Push the potatoes down and leave untouched for 5 minutes to get a crust then take a large spoon and mix the potatoes, taste and adjust the seasoning if needed then leave again for 5 minutes and repeat.  Turn over and cook for another 5 minutes or so until you have a beautiful golden crust.  The truth is you can do this whole step in 10 minutes but if you have time to turn and stir you will get lots of crusty bits which really make it special.

You can also make individual bubble and squeak cakes if you prefer, to do this, cook the Brussels mixture as above and mix through and leave the mixture to cool a little before dividing up.  Get 2 bowls, one with a beaten egg and one with a couple of tbsps of flour.  Take each ‘cake’ individually and dip into the egg mixture and then into the flour.  Put to one side.  Heat a tbsp or two of oil and when hot, add the cakes and cook for 3-5 minutes each side or until golden.