When you’ve put so much time and effort into making a delicious Christmas dinner, it’s such a shame to let the leftovers go to waste. These bubble and squeak style potato cakes are super easy to put together and require minimal preparation – perfect for a delicious and stress-free Boxing Day brunch.
The slight bitterness of the brussels sprouts and the sweetness of the red onion work well together, but you can use any Christmas veg that you’ve got leftover for this recipe. If you’ve kept your veg quite simple, adding a bit of fried garlic and some fresh thyme and rosemary to this recipe will really help to lift the flavour.
Did you know that eggs are a healthy breakfast choice providing protein, vitamin D, B12, B2, iodine and selenium too! You may have heard that eggs are bad for you because they contain cholesterol; which they do, but dietary cholesterol is not what has the biggest impact on the amount of cholesterol in our blood, it is our saturated fat intake.
Avocado also happens to be a great source of healthy unsaturated fat and provides a source of potassium, vitamin E and B5. Replacing saturated fats with unsaturated ones has been shown to lower and help maintain normal cholesterol levels, which is important as high cholesterol increases your risk of heart disease. For less saturated fat, you could choose olive oil for frying too. Each portion of this dish also provides two of your five a day!
The weights of potatoes and vegetables in this recipe are from cooked leftovers, rather than raw ingredients.
Ingredients:
– 300g roasted potatoes
– 120g carrots
– 100g brussels sprouts, sliced
– 100g red onion, roughly chopped
– 25g butter
– 4-5 medium free-range eggs
– 2 avocados, peeled and sliced
Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 100°C (electric)/80°C (fan) or the lowest setting possible.
2. Place the potatoes and carrots in a large bowl and mash together well with a potato masher. Add the red onion and brussels sprouts and gently mix through. Taste the mixture and season accordingly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Check the consistency of the mixture by forming one potato cake in your hands to roughly four inches wide and one inch thick. If it holds together well, continue to step 3 of the method. If it’s too dry, add some beaten egg a little at a time and mix through until they hold their shape.
3. Continue forming potato cakes until there is no mixture left and set them aside.
4. Place a large frying pan over a medium-high heat and add half of the butter. Once the butter is hot, add half of the potato cakes to the pan and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side until crisp and golden. Transfer the cooked potato cakes to a baking sheet, cover with foil, and place in the preheated oven to stay warm. Repeat with the remaining potato cakes, using the rest of the butter for frying.
5. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to a very gentle simmer. One by one, crack each egg into a small mug and gently pour into the water. For a runny yolk, simmer the eggs for 3 minutes then transfer to a plate lined with kitchen roll to drain any excess water.
6. Serve by dividing the potato cakes and avocado between plates and top each with a poached egg and a bit of freshly ground black pepper.
The only thing that’s left to do is to enjoy tucking into your tantalisingly tasty post-Christmas feast!