Mouth-watering boxty stuffed with yummy bacon and cheese

This is our new favourite way to deal with left-over mash and Lord knows, most houses churn out a lot of left-over mash.

If you haven’t tried boxty stuffed with cheese and bacon then this is a recipe you need in your life.

For a start it’s a great take on an Irish farmhouse staple and if you aren’t satisfied with one of these double decker pancakes, just make another.
Great on their own with a dollop of crème fraiche and a few tangy red onion curves, this type of boxty would also make for a great centre piece for a Sunday morning fry-up.Imagine the best potato bread of your life and then add salty bacon and melted cheese to the equation.

The quantities here are hard to define because generally, when you’re making boxty you’re using left-overs, but for argument sake, we’ll say you’ve got 250g of cold mash at your disposal.

INGREDIENTS

• 250g of left over mash (if you’re like us, that’s about five or six ice-cream scooper’s worth)
• the same quantity of raw spud, grated (in this case 250g)
• roughly two thirds of that quantity of plain flour (say, 150g)
• tbsp of butter, melted
• 100g of milk
• big pinch of salt
• white pepper
• crispy bacon or chopped ham
• 100g of grated mature cheddar cheese
• more butter for frying
• vegetable oil

THE PLAN

This is a little bit time consuming but at the same time, easy-peasy.

1. Get your left-over mash into a big bowl and fluff up with a fork.
2. Grate your raw spuds onto a clean tea towel and then gather up the sides of the towel and squeeze out all the spud juice. This is inexplicably satisfying to do.
3. Add the dry grated spuds to the mash and mix through. Season well, mix again.
4. Now add the butter and half the milk and mix again. Add more of the milk until you have a sticky, gloopy mixture like a lumpy dough.
5. Flour a clean surface and then flour your hands and taking a lump of the dough a bit bigger than a golf ball, flatten on the worktop or board until you have a pancake-type shape.
6. Top this with the swine of your choice, a big pinch of the cheddar and then top with another flattened golf ball, pressing down firmly along the sides.
7. Trim off the rough sides with a sharp knife, set the young boxty aside and repeat as necessary.
8. In a skillet or frying pan, fry each of your boxtys in a little knob of butter and a small dash of the oil (to stop the butter from burning).
9. These will take about four or five minutes or so on either side over a medium heat until crisping and golden. Generally keep an eye on them.
10. Until they’re all ready, keep the boxtys warm in a low oven.
11. Serve with yet more cheddar, a dollop of crème fraiche and a few shards of red onion.
12. Tuck in.

Ramping up the flavour even further – if you can get any – replace the cheddar with some Kilcreen Dart Mountain Cheese.
Tuck in – in style!