Bubble and Squeak

The 27th of December - for me, the first day I finally get to sit down and rest. (Well as much rest as can be achieved while revising for Law School.)

The Christmas period is certainly a busy one. Tonight we are entertaining my sisters new boyfriend who is visiting from Nottingham - aka Christmas 2. Tomorrow I will be at Jon's house for Christmas 3 as his sister and brother-in-law come to stay. On Saturday there's another family party to attend before yet MORE family coming to stay on the 30th! And despite all of this, we still seem to have WAY too much food in our fridge! You'd think we didn't feed our guests.

Taking a little respite today, my mother and I decided to try and make a dent on the leftovers in fridge.

We came across cooked parsnips, peas, sweetcorn, roast potatoes and loads of carrots. This means one thing in our house - bubble and squeak.

For those of you who don't know, bubble and squeak is a traditional English a shallow fried potato cake filled with other vegetables leftover from a roast dinner.

For those of you who believe in the saying "waste not, want not" this recipe is for you!

Pork Roast with Apples and Cider Gravy

Succulent pork joint served with apples and cider gravy.

For the first time EVER my Dad has let go of the reins and let me cook the Sunday roast! Now if you don’t know my Dad, you probably don’t know just how much of a big deal this is!!! Dad has ALWAYS done the roast. I think my Mum has only been forced to do it a few times when he’s been ill. When he was flat out with a bad back for 6 months rather than let anyone else attempt to do the Sunday Dinner...we just didn’t have one! FOR 6 MONTHS! That’s how much of a big deal this is...Dad does roasts. End of.

Yet, this week as we were wandering down the aisles of our local Sainsbury’s I convinced him to let me choose everything from the veg (on in this case fruit) and the joint of meat. Once I’d put it all in the trolley he finally uttered those words I’d longed to hear... “Do you want to COOK the roast this week?” YES! YES I DO! So that was it, I was officially in charge of cooking the Sunday dinner.

Now, to complicate things, we rarely buy pork as it’s my Mum and sister’s least favourite meat. So I not only had to cook a flawless roast (which I’ve never even attempted before) but I had to convince my Mum that pork can be delicious and not just full of fat.

It sounds rather cliché matching pork with apples (and therefore cider) but some flavour combinations are just meant to be, so I decided not to mess with the classics, but to simply try and refine what is really quite a simple recipe. The idea is that with a hint of the apple’s sweetness, you let the pork truly shine. And, with a good bit of crackling on the side I believe that this recipe will win over even the most reluctant pork eaters. My Mum included.

Yorkshire Puddings!

It's a Sunday and that means one thing...roast dinner, with yorkshire puddings!

Now...I know this will be a shock to most...but I’m not actually a big fan of the roast dinner! I love all of its components, the mountains of veg, pools of gravy, and the succulent meat, but for some reason they’ve never been my favourite meal.

However, despite not being a roast dinner connoisseur,  I do know one thing – a good roast dinner can be made outstanding with the addition of one simple component, the Yorkshire Pudding!

What is even better, is that they are incredibly simple to make, and cheap! What more could a student want!

Freshers Foodie Tips #6 - Friends who cook together buy a house together in 2nd year!

Suggest one night of the weak where your whole flat cooks together to spread the cost!