Bubble and squeak is a humble dish, but so packed with yum that it is one of my VERY favorite dishes and I often make a double batch of mashed potatoes to make it the following day with the leftovers. (I make KILLER mashed potatoes so it isn’t hard to get my family to eat them 2 days in a row.) While it is a traditional dish served on Halloween in Ireland (The bubbling and squeaking in the skillet as it cooks are the sounds of witches and ghosts trying to escape from the heat) I LOVE serving it on St. Patrick’s Day. (And really, any other day.) My addition to it is to add bacon, because well..IT’S BACON, but the traditional method of making it is to serve it without.
It may sound odd, but we love eating this at breakfast. And while it doesn’t make it to the table every St. Paddy’s Day, more often than not, it does.
Bubble And Squeak
Ingredients
- 1 small onion chopped fine. (I prefer using a sweet yellow onion and chopping it as fine as possible. On St. Paddy’s I use chopped scallions because the green color is so fun.)
- 4-6 strips good quality, THICK bacon. Rough chopped and browned.
- 2 cups shredded cabbage, boiled for 15 minutes and drained.
- 2 cups mashed potatoes
- 1 heaping Tablespoon butter (Don’t use margarine or I will have to hunt you DOWN! If you want a healthier option, skip the bacon and use Olive Oil instead.)
- Salt and Pepper to taste
Instructions
- Fry the chopped bacon in a large skillet.
- Add the butter and fry the onion over low heat for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add cabbage and stir over low heat for 2 minutes. Fold in the mashed potatoes until well blended with the cabbage.
- Press mixture lightly onto the surface of the skillet to form a large pancake.
- Cook for 5 minutes until the underside has browned lightly.
- Turn and brown on the second side for five minutes.
Number of servings (yield): 4
What about you?
What Irish dishes are you fond of? (Runner up to this? Shepherds Pie. NOM!)
What are your St. Paddy’s Day plans? Guinness at the bar? Just sending the kiddies to school wearing green? Or are you someone that places it in the same category as Columbus and Arbor Day?
I made a killer Bailey’s Irish Creme cake (and glaze) this week. does that count?
We try to do make some Irish Soda Bread Scones to go along with our Bangers and Mash! We are real Irish/Celtic and I have researched traditional non-americanized foods. We have a blast with it!
I’ve never heard of this, but it is definitely something I/we would LOVE!!! Thank you for posting and Happy Paddy’s day!
I think I just found me new favorite St. Paddy’s day recipe. Sensational Irish Cream Cheesecake!! Oh my Lord! It’s delicous. As for my plans…. probably not much. It’s calving season in the country to you never get too far from the herd!
Oh, this looks good! It’s definitely my kind of food, so I’m sitting here wondering why I’ve never made it before. Thanks for the delicious inspiration. I love shepherd’s pie, too.
As for St. Paddy’s Day - no special plans here, but I’m wearing my bright chartreuse lucky farm cargo pants. Those would be the ones my hunky farmguy is lucky I don’t wear to town.
Traditional Boston brown bread, in a coffee can, to sop up all those good corned beef juices!
My mom made this for us all the time while I was growing up. LOVE IT!
We are all Irish here- so I will make Irish Farmhouse Bake, my mother’s Irish Soda Bread (NO Carraway seeds and plenty of Irish butter) and Irish Mist Mocha Mousse for dessert. If I have a crowd, which I might, I’de add stout glazed pork-ribs and champ(mashed spuds with cream, butter and scallions) and, just to represent that flag, some honeyed carrots. I could go on and on!