As
promised here are the recipes and the bits and pieces mentioned
during my chat with Bernie Keith, on his Radio Show,
The Bernie Keith Show, BBC Radio Northampton on Monday 13th
January, 2020 at 10.10am
Bubble
and Squeak (Squeak)
This
is a “fly by the seat of your pants”/”live dangerously”
recipe! Normally I wouldn't give a recipe, it depends on what you've
got leftover, how many mouths you are feeding and how big are their
appetites!
Squeak
Serves
2
250g
(ish) cooked potatoes, sliced or cubed
125g
cooked sprouts, finely sliced
1
medium onion, finely diced
Salt
and black pepper
20g
unsalted butter & glug of rapeseed oil
125g
of diced chorizo
1
egg per person
Glug
of malt vinegar
Water
for poaching eggs
You'll
need one large frying pan for the Squeak
-
preferably one that can be transferred to the oven
One
small frying pan for the chorizo
One
small saucepan, with water and a glug of
malt
vinegar
Melt
the oil and butter in a large frying pan, add the diced onion and
sauté on a medium heat for 2/3 minutes. Add the potato and mix
together, sauté for a further 2/3 minutes fold in the sprouts and
cook for a further 2/3 minutes. Transfer the Squeak to a pre-heated
oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.
Heat
the small frying pan then add the chorizo and fry on a medium heat.
Bring
the water to the boil, add the vinegar and turn down to simmer, ready
for the poached eggs.
As
soon as the chorizo begins to crisp immerse the eggs bring to the
boil and set your timer for three minutes – long enough to heat
your serving bowls!
You
can serve this dish as large or as small as you like – Jackson
Pollock style or posh :
The
old ones are the best!
Here
are two more variations on the theme of Bubble
and Squeak
– they are all “much of a muchness” as we say – they are all
delicious, made from leftovers or, as I prefer to say, “deliberates”.
Pea
and Spring Onion Champ
1.5kg
Potatoes, scrubbed
100g
butter
500ml/18
fl oz milk (or if a richer consistency
75%
milk to 25% double cream)
450g
frozen peas
75g
spring onions, chopped
4
tbsp chopped parsley
salt
and black pepper
Cook
the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, peel and mash. You
could use a ricer for absolute “lump free”. Add half the butter –
50g, after mashing or ricing. Place the milk/cream in a pan with the
peas and onions and boil, gently, for 4/5 minutes. Add the parsley,
take off the heat.
Add
the potatoes, keep some of the milk back – you may not need it all.
Season to taste and beat until creamy and smooth – add more milk
if required.
Serve
piping hot with a knob of butter melting in the centre.
P.s.
If you wish you could add grated mature cheddar cheese.
Colcannon
Savoy
cabbage, finely shredded – half a cabbage
approximately
350g in weight
30g
butter
Bunch
of spring onions finely chopped
1.5kg
Maris piper potatoes,
Salt
and black pepper
There
are no exact weights here – you may have leftover mashed potatoes
and cabbage – it really doesn't matter.
If
you've not got leftovers, cook the potatoes in salted water until
tender, drain, peel and mash. You could use a ricer for guaranteed
lump free.
Put
the cabbage in a pan with the butter and cook over a low heat for 2-3
minutes until tender, stirring frequently.
Add
the spring onions and cook for another minute or two. Mix with the
mashed potato and season well.
If
you've cooked your potatoes ahead or are using leftovers, pop the
completed dish into a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 for 20
minutes. You could use oven-proof ramekins and serve straight to the
table.
Dorset
Apple Cake
225g
cooking apples, peeled and chopped
slice
an extra apple to decorate the top
juice
of half a lemon – 1 tbsp
225g
plain flour
1½
tsps baking powder
115g
unsalted butter, diced
165g
dark muscovado sugar – gives a dark
Chrismassy
style cake or use light for a lighter
version
– golden demerara too – reserve 50g of this
for
the topping
1
egg beaten
2-3
tbsp of milk
½
tsp ground cinnamon
25g
ground almonds
Preheat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4.
Grease and line a 8” round cake tin.
Toss the apple with the lemon juice and set aside. Sift the flour
and baking powder together then rub in the butter until you get
breadcrumbs then add the ground almonds.
Stir in 115g of the sugar, the apple and the egg, mix well, adding
a drop of the milk at a time to make a soft doughy mix.
Transfer to your tin.
Finally, mix the reserved 50g of soft brown sugar, sliced apple
and cinnamon and arrange on top of the cake mix.
Bake for 45-50 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes
then transfer to a wire cooling rack.
As is obvious this cake uses cooking apples – you'd never know –
they are soft and taste like plump pieces of squidgy toffee apples.
More
pluses - this cake is good warm or cold – serve with vanilla ice
cream, clotted cream, custard or a combination of all three. It
keeps well. I made it on a Friday and double wrapped in foil when
cooled. By Tuesday it was as good as Friday – just that there were
only two portions left!
I'm not a huge cake eater but I loved this. It's a perfect Winter
comfort blanket with a cuppa on a chilly afternoon which is why it's
now known as Comfort Cake!
If you want to see a photo or three, check out the Cake label on
the blog 5/10/19.
Calvados
Dessert Sauce
as a drizzle over the Dorset Apple Cake
50g caster sugar
20g unsalted butter
40g Cox apple, peeled, cored and
diced
80ml of pressed apple juice
½ tsp of arrowroot, diluted in a drop
of water
1 tsp Calvados
Heat the sugar in a small non stick frying pan (I used a pan
measuring 23cms/9” approximately) until it's a dark golden
caramel. Stir in the butter and the diced apple. Cook for 30
seconds – do not interfere with the pan – resist the urge to
prod. Add the apple juice and bring to the boil. Add the slaked
arrowroot, a drop at a time until it thickens. Remove from the heat
and add the Calvados.
This is a perfect drizzle for the Dorset Apple Cake. If you
want more than a drizzle then make double the recipe!
The drizzle will keep – I covered the pan when cooled and
fridged it. When I wanted to serve the sauce I warmed it gently.
Enjoy!
