Hugh's Three Good Things
Every week on Simon Mayo's Saturday show, we're joined by food and wine expert, Nigel Barden, who talks us through incredible recipes and the wines that go with them. As well as satisfying your taste buds, we also satisfy your ears with a classical track that compliments the food perfectly.
Simon Mayo's show is on from 10am until 1pm every Saturday and you can listen here. On Saturday 4th April we made Two meals using only a few ingredients (3 per meal to be exact).
The full recipe is below:
Potato, Cheese, Thyme
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage Easy (Bloomsbury)
Photography © Simon Wheeler
These scrumptious little potato cakes are good enough to enjoy as a starter or light meal with just a crisp salad on the side. They also make a great accompaniment to sausages or a piece of fish. This is a good way to use up leftover potato, but it’s also worth baking some jacket spuds & leaving them to cool just so you can do this.
Makes 6
Ingredients
500g cold cooked potatoes
100g mature Cheddar
1 tsp thyme leaves (fresh or frozen, or 1Ž2 tsp dried)
Sunflower, rapeseed or olive oil for frying
3 tbsp plain flour
Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
Put the potatoes into a bowl & mash roughly with a fork – keep it a little bit chunky rather than make a smooth mash. Cut the cheese into very small cubes, about 4-5mm. Stir these into the potato with the thyme & some salt & pepper.
Heat a thin layer in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat. Scatter the flour on a plate. Take small handfuls of the potato mixture & shape into balls, then flatten slightly to form 6 small cakes, about 2cm deep. Dip them in the flour & turn to coat lightly on both sides.
Place the potato cakes in the hot frying pan & cook them for 8-10mins until golden brown on both sides, turning them carefully once or twice. Don’t worry if some of the cheese starts to ooze out as it melts – just encourage back into the potato cake with a spatula.
Transfer the potato cakes to warm plates, sprinkle with a touch more salt & serve.
PLUS ONE: Try adding a little chopped cooked bacon to the mix, or a couple of teaspoons of baby capers. Cold, leftover parsnips or celeriac can also be roughly mashed & added to the potato mix.
Potato, Swede, Egg
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from River Cottage Easy (Bloomsbury)
Photography © Simon Wheeler
A warming, rooty supper dish like this is just the thing to sustain you on a cold evening. It is also an exceptionally nice way to eat swede – even if it’s not usually one of your favourite veg. You can use leftover mash, but it’s well worth making the dish from scratch.
Serves 4
Ingredients
About 500g swede
About 500g fairly floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper or King Edward
100ml whole milk
50g unsalted butter
4 large eggs, at room temperature
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C/Gas 6. Peel the swede and cut it into pieces, no smaller than a golf ball. Place in a saucepan, cover with water, add salt and bring to the boil. Simmer until completely tender, which will take at least 30 minutes. Drain, return to the hot pan and allow to steam for 5 minutes.
Cook the potatoes in the same way in a separate pan; they will only need 15–20 minutes. Drain, return to the hot pan and allow them to steam for 5 minutes.
Heat the milk and butter together in a medium pan until hot but not boiling. Add the drained potatoes and mash to a smooth, soft purée. Mash the swede in its own pan, then add it to the potato and mash the two together until you have a soft, fluffy, textured mash (it won’t be super-smooth). Add salt and pepper as you mash, being generous with the pepper – it’s delicious with swede.
You can either spread all the potato and swede mash in a large shallow oven dish, or shape it into 4 rough, shallow cakes and put them into individual baking dishes. If the mash is still hot, put it in the oven for 5–10 minutes; if you’re reheating it from cold, allow about 15 minutes. It needs to be piping hot in the middle.
Remove from the oven and use the back of a spoon to create four hollows in the mash. Carefully break an egg into each hollow. Return to the oven for 8–10 minutes until the egg whites are set but the yolks still runny. Add a grinding of black pepper and serve straight away.
ANOTHER TAKE: Alternatively you can fry individual mash cakes in a little oil, turning them once, until crispy, then set these aside and fry 4 eggs to serve on top.
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