Boxing Day 2025
Boxing Day. Grey, cloudy and cold, but the rain stayed away. The Dreaded Lurgy has returned, which is most annoying. Awake at 04:00 and couldn’t get back to sleep; I made coffee, edited a few photos and ran the dailies in GW2—still no luck. I decided to start making Boxing Day breakfast: Bubble & Squeak Cakes, which have become a bit of a family favourite over the last 20 years. The prep takes a while, so it was good to get cracking early. Everyone was feeling relaxed and a little tired, after Christmas Day—so today was all about masterful inactivity, cold slices of gammon, and Stranger Things. I grabbed a much-needed nap. Gail & Luca left for home in the afternoon, but Ed will be staying for a few more days.
Recipe for Bubble & Squeak Cakes:
This is all about the leftovers, so the recipe is very flexible and can be adapted to whatever you find in the fridge on Boxing Day morning. There are a few key ingredients and extras that help to make them into golden brown crispy cakes: 1 large onion, one cabbage, 1-2 red peppers, breadcrumbs, flour, six eggs, one packet of instant mashed potatoes, ground black pepper, paprika, turmeric and crushed chilli flakes, vegetable oil, butter and milk.
Step 1: Prep the Meats. Chop the various leftover meats into small pieces and mix them together. This might include turkey, bacon, pork, gammon, ham, pigs-in-blankets or other sausages, roast lamb or beef, and also the stuffing—it’s all good. We don’t often have turkey for Christmas these days, so I bought a pack of turkey steaks, which I air-fried and added to the mix. Add some oil to a large wok and sizzle all the meats together over high heat for about 10 minutes, adding black pepper, paprika, turmeric, and just a few chilli flakes until it’s looking nice and golden brown, then put aside in a large bowl to cool.
Step 2: Boil the Cabbage. Remove the hard core from the cabbage and slice the rest into long, thin strips. Add to boiling water in a saucepan and cook for 5 minutes, then drain it and leave to cool in a bowl.
Step 3: Prep the Veggies. Chop up all the leftover roast potatoes and veggies into small pieces, then mix them together. This should definitely include a good amount of roast potatoes, so if you don’t have many left, chop up some fresh potatoes and either air-fry them or roast them in the oven. Other veggies might include parsnips, carrots (either roasted or boiled), sprouts, asparagus, cabbage, cauliflower, peas, garlic, chestnuts—whatever you have. Chop the onion and the red peppers. Add more oil to the wok, fry the onions and peppers until they soften, then add the rest of the chopped veggies. Sizzle all the veggies together for about 10-15 minutes, adding black pepper, paprika and turmeric. Once again, cook until everything is golden brown and fragrant, then transfer to a large bowl or pan, ready to combine all the ingredients.
Step 4: Mash & Combine. Add a few knobs of butter to the cooked veggies while still hot, along with a good splash of milk. Use a potato-masher to crush and mash it all together. Make up the pack of instant mashed potatoes, add it to the bowl while hot, and then add the cooked cabbage. Get your hands in there and squish it all together, or use a spoon if it’s too hot to handle. Add the meats and mix them in. Finally, add 2-3 cupfuls of flour, a pack of breadcrumbs, and six eggs, then mix it all thoroughly and give it a good knead.
Step 5: Cake & Bake. Line 2-3 large trays with baking parchment. Grab handfuls of the mix and shape rustically into cakes, about 3 cm (1.5 inches) thick and the size of the palm of your hand. Place them all on the baking trays and bake in a preheated oven at 200°C (fan 180°C) for about 40-45 minutes, until golden brown and crispy. It’s best to turn them over about 30 minutes into baking. Take out and allow to cool on a rack for a few minutes before serving.
Step 6: Serve ‘Em Up. We usually serve these for Boxing Day brunch, topped with a fried egg. They are very filling, so you probably won’t need much else with them. Tomato ketchup, brown sauce, mustard, Piccalilli, etc, all work very nicely.
