Bubbles And Squeaks. Makes 10 bubble and squeak patties at 7p each, eat one or two or five, depending on how hungry you are. I was really hungry, so didn’t even get a picture of these. However I have half the mix left in the fridge for tonights dinner, so will fry it up and snap it later. In the meantime, here’s a recipe for ridiculously cheap food.
Ingredients:*
2 potatoes, 10p (5p each, from a 1.25kg vegetable pack, £1)
1 carrot, 5p (5p each, from a 1.25kg vegetable pack, £1)
1 onion, 5p (5p each, from a 1.25kg vegetable pack, £1)
¼ cabbage, 20p (Savoy Cabbage, 80p)
1 egg, 23p ( free range medium eggs, £1.40 for 6)
Tbsp flour, 2p (65p/1.5kg)
Tbsp lard, 4p (49p/250g)
Vegetable stock cube, 1p (10p for 10)
How To:
1. Bring the vegetable stock to the boil in a medium sized saucepan.
2. Dice the potatoes and carrots (I don’t peel mine, but this is optional) and add to the stock. Simmer for 20 minutes or until they are soft. I find prodding a knife into the saucepan is a good indicator; if it slides through a chunk of potato smoothly, you’re good to go.
3. While the root veg is boiling, take a separate saucepan and add a little lard or oil to it. Some of you may balk at the thought of using lard – I was brought up cooking eggs and bread at my grandfathers guest houses along the seafront, and we used the stuff all the time. Feel free to use some sort of oil if you’d rather, but I find slicing off a chunk of lard is a much better indicator of fat content than a nice slosh of oil. To be blunt – I use less lard than oil simply because of how it looks! Anyway… Finely slice the onion and cabbage and add to the saucepan, and fry gently until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally to allow it all to cook.
4. When the root veg is cooked, drain it and tip back into the saucepan. Add the onions and cabbage and mash together thoroughly with a masher.
5. Add the egg and flour and stir.
6. This is an optional stage but keeps it together more successfully, however if you’re in a rush and willing to keep an eye on it, it’s not essential. I scoop the mash into a bowl and refrigerate it for an hour or two to allow it to set a little. As I said, optional, but I use this setting time to wash up the pans!
7. Heat some oil/lard/fat in a frying pan, and dollop a spoon of mashed veg mixture into it. Flatten slightly with the back of a fork or spatula, and cook on a medium heat until golden and crisp on one side (depends on your hob, but mine takes about 7 minutes). Turn over and cook the other side. You may need to do these in batches, but cook until all the mixture is used up.
Variations:
You might like to add cheese to the mix, if you like that sort of thing.
Also, you can use pretty much any vegetables you like in bubble and squeak. I likt to make a posh version with parsnip and red onion, when I have them both lying about. Sweet potato is also a good base, extra carrot will make it sweeter and peas will sneak extra veg into your kids. Play with it and see what you come up with.
Oh, and I had mine with a fried egg and some ketchup, but depending on your budget and preferences, you can have bubble and squeak with sausages, or roast chicken and veg, or on its own as a lunch or snack… Do what you like.
They keep cold for a few days to have with bacon and an egg as brunch, too. Or you could be a heathen, like me, and snack on them from the fridge.
Jack Monroe. Twitter: @MsJackMonroe
*(Prices calculated at Sainsburys, using the Basics range where available. Costs checked on date of publication against ASDA SmartPrice, Tesco Value, Morrisons Value and Waitrose Essentials. Some variation between major supermarkets but most items widely available at similar price.)