It’s not even Christmas yet, but I’ve already got leftovers and recipes for leftovers. Thanks to some amazing gifts from an incredible friend, I was gifted both Jamie Oliver’s Christmas Cookbook and Jamie Oliver’s 5 Ingredients. I spent an entire evening just poring through the books and wanting to make every recipe. So, I decided the best place to start, given my Christmas dinner leftovers from last weekend, were the leftover recipes from Jamie’s Christmas cookbook.

To find a similar recipe, click here.

The easiest leftover recipe ever is Bubble and Squeak. You can literally just throw any left over vegetables in a pan with the potatoes and you’re good to go. Because it’s so easy, it feels silly that you should need to follow a recipe. But, sometimes it’s just good to have an idea of how crispy it should get, or how much you might need, or what else you can eat it with.

So, breakfast this morning was bubble and squeak with a poached egg and some sweet chilli sauce.

I needed a big breakfast because today was the day that an old school friend got married to the love of her life – someone I am happy to also call my friend. They are perfect for each other in every way, and I was so glad to be at their special day today. The wedding was on the Star Ferry, and was beautiful. The weather cooperated, everyone looked great, and we had a great couple of hours on the boat watching our friends get married and enjoying champagne while floating around the harbour. Oh, what a glorious day!

Anyhow, the bubble and squeak was definitely a great lining for the stomach considering the three glasses of prosecco had on the boat. It’s a great way to use up some leftover veggies and potatoes in the house, whether after Christmas or even just after a Sunday roast.

My bubble and squeak is purple in colour due to the purple carrots that were leftover from my roasted veggie bake earlier this week. Due to the bacon that was in my roasted vegetables, I didn’t need to season too much. However, just season to your taste.

Now to the good part, the recipe.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
olive oil
fresh thyme
600g leftover roasted potatoes
600g leftover vegetables (I used purple carrots, pumpkin, sweet potatoes and brussels sprouts)
1 egg
sweet chilli sauce

1. Melt the butter and oil in a large frying pan on a medium heat.
2. Add the fresh thyme leaves to the pan and allow the leaves to fry up for a few minutes.
3. Add the potatoes and vegetables to the frying pan, and start mashing with a potato masher. Don’t worry if not everything mashes easily, a few chunky bits of veg here and there are great.
4. Once the veggies are mashed, leave them flat to fry for a few minutes. Once the bottom layer starts to get crispy and golden, flip the veggies around and get another layer crisy and golden.
5. As Jamie says in his book, the trick is to get the crispy bits all over. So make sure you turn over the mashed veggies every now and then.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. While this is going on, get some water on the boil, and poach an egg per serving.
8. Plate up the bubble and squeak, place the poached egg on top, and drizzle some sweet chilli sauce over the food.

Obviously, feel free to eat the bubble and squeak with whatever matches your tastes. It tastes incredible on its own, or as a side dish with some left over meats.

I’m still trying to work on my presentation, but here’s hoping it’s getting better.