CHRISTMAS BUBBLE AND SQUEAK

This year, for the first time, there were just two of us for Christmas. We had a luxuriously lazy brunch of smoked salmon, scrambled eggs, and bucks fizz. We went for a walk in the enjoyable calm of Christmas Day at a time when everyone else must have been sitting down to lunch and then we went home and cooked. I had planned to cook enough to guarantee leftovers and succeeded admirably in this aim (maybe a little too admirably but cold Christmas food is never bad). My main motivation in cooking enough veg to feed a small army, or at the very least a large family, was to make the Christmas bubble and squeak from 'Feast' which I had made and adored last year.

Nigella gives a recipe of sorts but you really just need to bung all of your leftover vegetables (I used roast potatoes, roast parsnips, carrots, and brussels sprouts) into a food processor with a spring onion or two for freshness, whizz it all up, and then add enough beaten egg to just bind the mixture; it should still be fairly solid so start with one egg and add another if this isn't enough. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan and then add the mixture, cook slowly on the hob then finish the top under a medium grill. Mine took about 10 minutes on the hob and another 5 under the grill but obviously this depends on the relative size of your bubble and squeak. When it's cooked, slide the bubble and squeak out onto a plate and slice. Eat it with your cold roast meat or just on its own with a sprinkling of sea salt and some mayonnaise or chilli sauce for dipping.