The name came into my head when I took the leftover Brussels sprouts out of the fridge with a view to frying them up for lunch today.
Bubble and Squeak--named for the noise they make in the pan while cooking.
Ho-hum–I didn’t hear a thing!
Wasn’t this quaintly-named concoction part of my mother’s post Christmas leftover strategy?
Dishes to go with cold turkey that only needed heating up?
Then a memory of added bacon floated into my mind.
Didn’t bacon get mixed into the brussels?
Well, bacon bits were already part of the feast on Christmas day–no harm in adding even more oven-crisped smoked bacon to the fried-up sprouts….
They’ll go nicely with a slice of the chickpea (socca) bread cooked in the oven as well.
Add a poached/fried egg and “Bob’s your uncle”–to revive another phrase from my childhood.
1 small onion–chopped
1 clove of garlic–chopped
leftover cooked Brussels sprouts–chopped
leftover Swiss chard–chopped (or you might have some OTHER leftover to try out in this recipe!)
a few very thin rashers of bacon–smoked or green to taste
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Heat a couple of tablespoons of olive oil in a sauté pan and add the onion and garlic.
Let them color a little before adding the brussels and the swiss chard (or other leftovers).
Mix together and cook gently for about 10 minutes–just long enough to heat them through.
Cook the bacon separately to a crisp state and scatter broken up bit over the sprouts.
Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.
We enjoyed it on a slice of the homemade socca–chickpea flour–bread.
And the only sound was “umm”!
Robin Ellis 