Celeriac Bubble and Squeak with a Brussel Sprout, Apple and Almond Salad and Homemade Cranberry Sauce

This started off as an idea for a nice little festive dinner party starter but I think it would actually suit a party/ lunch buffet much more! The delicious bubble and squeak can be made into miniature bite sized cakes and served piled up next to bowls of the sauce and salad for people to help themselves.

On boxing day when I was younger we would always have people around to help us finish off the leftover food and my mum would make a turkey curry, cold meats, chutney and salads and bubble and squeak! This recipe kind of brings that all together and is a nice way to use up leftovers in a slightly special way. In case you haven’t heard of bubble and squeak before it is made from roasted/ boiled vegetables usually including a starchy veg like left over roasted potatoes and parsnips (or in this case celeriac) and all of the greens that are left over. Everything is mashed, seasoned and shaped into little patties then fried! Sooo good!

We would always serve it with a fried egg, meats and plenty of ketchup but I have lightened it up here with a fresh salad made from brussel sprouts, apple, parsley, lettuce and almonds. Instead of ketchup I have made a cranberry sauce, or you can use any left over sauces that you have in the fridge!

I have done this recipe to serve only two because we weren’t actually having people around to help us eat it, however all you need to do is double/ quadruple the recipe to cover the amount of people you’ll be feeding!

To make the salad -

10 Brussel Sprouts
1 Apple
1 Lemon
Small Bunch Parsley
1 Gem Lettuce
Handful Raw Almonds

You’ll need the brussel sprouts for the bubble and squeak and the salad so it’s best to prepare those first. Slice the root end off each sprout and then peel off the gnarly tough outer leaves (this will only really be the first two leaves) and discard them. Then peel off the next two or three leaves carefully and put them to one side. The rest of the sprout is also put to one side to be used for the bubble and squeak.

Bring a pan of water to the boil and blanch the brussel sprout leaves for 30 seconds then put them straight into a large bowl of very cold water with a few slices of lemon in it. This will stop them cooking but also keep them nice and vibrant and green!

Thinly slice an apple into small matchsticks and add them to them lemon water to keep fresh. These can all be left in the water untill you are ready to serve so that the salad is fresh.

When ready, drain the sprout leaves and apple and pat dry on some kitchen towel. Mix together with some thinly sliced gem lettuce, chopped parsley and some almonds which have been sliced in half. I don’t think this needs a dressing as the lemon from the water gives everything a hint of sharpness but feel free to add a vinaigrette if you want.

To make the Bubble and Squeak -

10 Brussel Sprouts (left over from the salad)
1 Medium sized Celeriac – peeled and cut into large chunks
2 Large Garlic Cloves
8-10 sprigs of Fresh Thyme
Olive Oil

Preheat your oven to 190c, drizzle some olive oil in a large baking tray and put it in the oven for 5 minutes to heat the oil. Be really careful when you take it back out as oil goes very runny when heated, I burnt my arm really badly by accidentally tilting a baking tray full of hot oil. Anyway dangerous part over… place the chunks of celeriac into the tray and coat with the oil. Chop your garlic cloves in half (skin on) and rub the cut side all over the celeriac and then leave the garlic halves in the tray. Sprinkle with a generous pinch of salt and place in the oven for 15 minutes.

Using the water left over from blanching your sprout leaves, bring it back to the boil and add your left over whole brussel sprouts, cook them for 2 minutes in the water and drain.

Add the thyme sprigs and brussel sprouts to the tray and put back in the oven for 15 minutes. Allow the celeriac/ sprouts to cool, squeeze the garlic out of it skin, take the thyme leaves off the stick and then mash it all together. Shape into small patties and put in the fridge for at least half an hour to firm them up.

When ready, heat some oil in a frying pan and fry the patties for about 3-4 minutes on each side untill golden brown.

To make the cranberry sauce (makes a big bowl full)

200g Cranberries
80g Unrefined Demerara Sugar
splash Water

Place all ingredients in a pan and cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes untill the cranberries have broken down and the sauce reduced.

Now your ready for the christmas party!! Everyone will love these little patties of christmas flavours and it’s a great talking point if they’ve never heard of bubble and squeak before!

Bubble and Squeak: The Ultimate Post Christmas Brunch (re-post)

Isn’t life funny sometimes. I feel like everything has just come full circle because today I decided to have a go at making a twist on my more traditional bubble and squeak recipe and when I clicked on my blog to find it I realised that exactly one year ago today I posted that said bubble and squeak recipe!! I decided to repost it because it really gets me in the mood for christmas and also it’s a delicious way to eat some vegetables for brunch!

Bubble and Squeak conjures up memories of my mum cooking brunch in the kitchen on boxing day whilst we happily sorted through presents received the day before. We’d be in our pyjamas with a good cheesy christmas film on in the background! We’d have piles of freshly fried bubble and squeak made with everything left over from the day before topped with eggs and washed down with fresh orange juice! This recipe tastes best when your using left over roasted veggies but my healthy take on it is also delicious!!

Serves 4:

1/2 small Savoy Cabbage
8-10 Sprouts
2 Carrots
1 Large Potato
Pinch Salt
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Power
1/2 teaspoon dried Rosemary
Olive Oil for cooking

Preheat a baking tray in the oven at 190c

Prepare the vegetables by slicing the carrot, and cabbage, chop the potato into chunks and peel the sprouts then chop in half. Place the chopped potatoes onto the hot baking tray and spray/ drizzle with olive oil, roast for around 20 minutes. Steam (or boil) the sprouts, carrots and cabbage  untill soft then mash them with the roasted potatoes, garlic and rosemary.

Let it cool down a little bit then shape into cakes and fry in some olive oil untill golden brown and hot through.

Serve with a poached egg and plenty of tomato ketchup!!

Help yourself to seconds!

Ps: As kids this was a great way to fill us up of vegetables!! We used to have everything in there – carrots, leeks, peas, potatoes, cauliflower, parsnips! Anything left over that could be mashed

Amaretto & Baileys flavoured truffles: Home made food gifts!

This is my first try at making truffles and they were surprisingly easy and very delicious! I used this recipe: BBC Good Food Truffles to get the ratio of chocolate to cream but I made some changes to create flavours I love! These will be a great gift and also I plan to take them to a dinner party to share with everyone during after dinner drinks .

The best bit also is that you can change the flavours or toppings to whatever you fancy!

Heres my amended recipe:

200g Dark chocolate (70% Cocoa)
200g Milk Chocolate
150ml Reduced fat double cream (It does exist!! but use normal if you like)
4 teaspoon Amaretto
4 teaspoon Baileys
a few good quality Biscotti Biscuits
Cocoa Powder for dusting

Chop the chocolate quite roughly and put it into a bowl with the cream and melt either in the microwave (20-30 seconds at a time and stirring each time) or place the bowl over a pan of shallow hot water and stir untill melted.

Once melted split the mixture into two separate bowls and stir the Ameretto into one of the bowls and Baileys into the other bowl of chocolate. Put in the fridge and chill for 2-3 hours.

Once firm use a melon baller or I used a spoon and then rolled them into a ball in my hands and then roll the Baileys truffles in the cocoa powder and the Ameretto truffles in the crushed biscotti biscuits then put back in the fridge to firm up again.

You can freeze them untill you need them or keep the in the fridge for a few days untill needed!

I’m not sure I made mine perfectly round truffles but wow they taste delicious!! I also had the idea to roll them in flavoured hot chocolate powder to create orange or mint truffles!

This isn’t the usual recipe you will find on here and I apologise to my lactose intolerant friends as this isn’t very friendly for us (I ate three last night and my tummy had a little moan) but it is Christmas and I couldn’t resist sharing this little gem of a recipe for those of you wanting to find a quick and easy food gift for your friends and family.

Bubble and Squeak – The Ultimate Post-Christmas brunch!

Bubble and Squeak conjures up memories of my mum cooking brunch in the kitchen on boxing day whilst we happily sorted through presents received the day before. We’d be in our pyjamas with a good cheesy christmas film on in the background! We’d have piles of freshly fried bubble and squeak made with everything left over from the day before topped with eggs and washed down with fresh orange juice! This recipe tastes best when your using left over roasted veggies but my healthy take on it is also delicious!!

Serves 4:

1/2 small Savoy Cabbage
8-10 Sprouts
2 Carrots
1 Large Potato
Pinch Salt
1/2 teaspoon Garlic Power
1/2 teaspoon dried Rosemary
Olive Oil for cooking

Preheat a baking tray in the oven at 190c

Prepare the vegetables by slicing the carrot, and cabbage, chop the potato into chunks and peel the sprouts then chop in half. Place the chopped potatoes onto the hot baking tray and spray/ drizzle with olive oil, roast for around 20 minutes. Steam (or boil) the sprouts, carrots and cabbage  untill soft then mash them with the roasted potatoes, garlic and rosemary.

Let it cool down a little bit then shape into cakes and fry in some olive oil untill golden brown and hot through.

Serve with a poached egg and plenty of tomato ketchup!!

Help yourself to seconds!

Ps: As kids this was a great way to fill us up of vegetables!! We used to have everything in there – carrots, leeks, peas, potatoes, cauliflower, parsnips! Anything left over that could be mashed

It’s beginning to feel alot like Christmas!

It’s very easy when the first mince pie hits the shelves in the shops to go christmas mad and let yourself go, but I try to keep my normality blinkers on for a little bit longer – if not to save my waistline then atleast to save my bank balance!! I have decided this week though that although I will continue to post nice healthy meals to balance out our December I will allow a bit of christmas cheer into Veghotpot!!

A few weeks ago I posted some tips on how to personalise your home made gifts and also how to do this on a budget! Well I thought I would share withyou some of the things I have been getting up too to show you how easy it can be!! Everything from food gifts to paper and fabric crafts can be great gifts for your loved ones, but that little bit of extra effort can make it a really memorable idea.

I am planning on making Chocolate truffles as a gift and so I set about deciding on how to package them. During my trip to Borough Market I had bought two pies from my favourite Pie company Pieminister, after enjoying  them (I had a wild mushroom and Asparagus pie and it was AMAZING) I kept the boxes to transform into my very own Christmas gift box!

Here are the boxes:

Here is my transformed/ recycled box for my truffles: To prepare them for your gifts you can line the inside with some crepe/ tissue paper or a christmas napkin!

Another great idea for home made/ recycled/ budget gifts or decorations is decorated jam jars. We actually made these for my wedding but they look great for Christmas too! You can buy glass paint pens from craft shops and Raffia can be bought in bundles from florists for quite cheap! Perfect for putting a tea light in and having on your table or mantlepiece.

Last but not least I have also been making some personalised decorations for the tree I made these using an Ivory Silk nighty which had only been worn a handful of times and I recycled ribbon from some beautifully wrapped presents I received a few years ago!

I have had so much fun  making these, now I’ve just got to hope my truffle recipe works!!

Have you made any gifts for christmas?

Keep it Personal: A guide to food gifts on a budget!

In an earlier post I told you about the time I was at university and I didn’t have any money so for Christmas I made my family food gifts. I made cookies, bread rolls, ginger snaps, chilli oils and basil oil.

Now I was only just starting out in the world of cooking then and I think I can safely say that most of it was an endearing disaster! But the sentiment was appreciated and I think that was mainly because I had put so much effort into personalising the gift and making the packaging look nice!

So in the theme of “saving money at Christmas” I want to share a few tips on how to make your gifts really special without spending too much money!

• Think about what they like:
  I know this seems like an obvious one but it really does make a difference! Don’t give chocolate fudge brownies to your fitness guru cousin, or bread rolls to a relative who can’t eat wheat. By thinking about what they will really appreciate and use in their everyday lives you will be giving a better gift. It also means nothing will get thrown in the bin and wasted!
• Think about how you are going to package the gifts:
  A cake wrapped in tin foil may be practical but it doesn’t look special! You can often pick up some cheap flat packed cake boxes online or in local art stores (or go to your local bakery shop and see if they have any spare). Why not paint these with bright colours, put your relative’s names on the packaging, or make them look festive with ribbons and bows! 

              When I gave my gifts all those years ago I was studying Lingerie design at university so I decided to come up with my own brand called “Pants at baking”. My labels were all shaped like knickers and it was a play on the fact that I couldn’t bake! Why not play around with your own branding to make the gifts unique, personal and funny!

              This year I will think of new branding for my own gifts, so I’ll let you know once it is designed! 

• Recycle everyday items:
  If you are going to make things like chilli oils/ sauces/ chutneys then keep any small jars from foods you have bought, wash them and put to one side! You can replace any labels with your own and it means you don’t have to buy new jars for your gifts.

              You can also recycle old cards/ wrapping paper and use it to decorate your packaging without having to buy new things. 

• Put some of their personality into it:
  A great idea is to make a big batch of cupcakes or cookies and then personalise the decorations you use. By making a big batch of something you do not have to buy loads of different ingredients (one big bag of flour will make a lot of cakes!). Decorate them with stars for your nephew who loves astronomy, music notes for that Rock n Roll uncle and even a poem for your grandma. No one will mind that everyone also got a batch of cupcakes because you have made it special to them, and you have saved money by bulk buying ingredients.
•  Think about ingredients you have around you:
  I have unlimited use of a few apple/ pear trees, a freezer full of blackberries from the late summer, a huge batch of walnuts from my mum’s tree in France, loads of crystallised ginger from a recipe I made earlier in the year and also ALOT of dried fruit and cheese left from the wedding so I plan to use these in my food gifts. By thinking about what you have in the house/ garden you can save money and also people will appreciate it more if they know that the ingredients are from a tree instead of the supermarket. You could play on this in your branding – “Nice n Natural” or “From my garden to you”.

I hope this has helped inspire you to give some personal home made gifts this Christmas! Add a  few little twists to make a batch of bread rolls become a really thoughtful and unique present.

What would your branding be?