Bubble and Squeak with Bacon and Egg

I have had a wonderful birthday weekend. Thank you again to everyone for the birthday wishes on the blog, facebook, phone calls, text messages and emails. I have just fully recovered from the excessive eating and drinking.

After some very rich dinner and not one, not two, but three birthday cakes... (details to follow I'm sure), I need something completely different and I feel it's the perfect time to cook and eat my entry for this month's Random Recipe challenge. The participants are all paired up to select a random book and a recipe for each other. I got teamed up with the fabulous Victoria of 21st Century Urban Housewive. After several emails, I was assigned to one of my favourite cookbooks (though saying that, I like all my cookbooks, otherwise I wouldn't buy them or ask my friends to get them for me for presents), Economy Gastronomy by Allegra McEvedy and Paul Merrett. Then Victoria gave me page 150 which is this bubble and squeak with bacon and egg.

Bubble and squeak are great to make when you have leftover veg and mashed potato. I love leftovers but rarely have any, so I assembled this from raw ingredients. Earlier in the morning, I roasted the Brussels sprouts, mashed the potatoes and once cooled I put them in the fridge. Then when I'm ready to eat, I have my leftovers. The bubble and squeak will have lots of burnt bits but don't worry, those crispy bits are delicious.

Time for another slice of cake I think...

Bubble and Squeak with Bacon and Egg
Recipe by Paul Merrett
Serves 4

60 g butter
about 20 cooked Brussels sprouts, cut in half
about 8 tablespoons cold mashed potato
4 eggs
4 rashers of bacon

Heat a frying pan and melt half the butter. Toss in the sprouts and cook them until they start to colour on the outside. Be brave at this point and allow them to go a really dark brown - the middles will remain soft and sprout-like.

Add the mash to the frying pan. I find it easiest to do this with my hands - that way you can scatter it across the whole of the pan, which makes the mixing in easier. So, mix the contents of the pan and squelch everything down so it covers the base. Now add the remaining butter by breaking off little pieces and allowing them to melt around the edges of the pan. Don't move the potato and sprout mix. Underneath it is caramelizing, even burning, which is exactly what it should be doing. After about 3 minutes scrape and mix the potato and sprouts. Try to get the burnt bits back into the centre of the mixture, so that you have a fresh surface colouring underneath. Continue to do this until your mix is well coloured and slightly crispy.

At this point fry your eggs in a separate pan and grill your bacon, because you are moments away from serving up a money-saving British classic.