Faced with not a lot in the fridge and having been watching Masterchef Goes Large this week, I was inspired to create something from potatoes, brussel sprouts and eggs. I have never made hollandaise sauce before, nor bubble & squeak (although it does have many similarities with Champ and Colcannon, which I have made), so I was rather pleased with my first attempt as I’m sure I’d be happy if this was served to me in a restaurant.

I boiled three medium potatoes to start, and added 8 brussel sprouts which I cooked for only a few minutes before removing. Once the potatoes were done, I mashed them with some milk and butter. The sprouts were halved before adding to the mash and I also put some dried thyme in, along with some salt and pepper. I then mashed again and put the mixture into two round rosti moulds before putting in a pan of hot oil (2 tbps of oil). 

Whilst the bubble & sqeak was cooking, I melted 100g of butter in a pan for the Hollandaise sauce. In a food mixer, I put a tbps of water, a squeeze of lemon, an egg yolk and a pinch of chilli powder. On turning the blender on, I added the melted butter through the holes in the top of the lid, to get a sauce of creamy consistency. I think you are supposed to use clarified butter (butter with all the impurities taken out) rather than normal melted butter, but I didn’t really know how to effectively do this. I’m not sure it really made much of a difference either, although I’ll have to look into it some more.

Just before the bubble & squeaks were done, I poached a couple of eggs to put on top. With the drizzle of Hollandaise sauce, I think the dish looks rather good. On making again, I think I would add some spring onion to the bubble and squeaks and maybe fresh thyme instead of dried. The brussel sprout taste did come through, but was mellowed quite a bit by the potato. The sauce was probably a bit lemony and maybe could have done with another egg yolk, but it was still good. Overall, I was pretty pleased with the way this dish turned out.