Roll on Boxing Day

Turkey bought? Goose fat ready? Mucky white bread for the Christmas sandwich later in the evening?

This year I am resolved to take things easy in the kitchen over Christmas and if Christmas dinner isn’t the best food I’ve ever eaten, I won’t be fretting the bit out. It’s all about effort and reward, isn’t it. Scant effort and plenty of reward, thank you very much.

My plan is to have the soup done, veg prepped and stuffing made on Christmas Eve so that come the big day, it’s be a case of adding heat to the equation, making the gravy and hoping for the best.

That should leave plenty of time for un-wrapping pressies and les aperitifs.

Another tradition in our house is the Christmas breakfast which, against my better judgement (and taste), has turned out to be hot chocolate and buttery toast. This is habitually savoured at length after the flurry of unwrapping has ended and before the selection boxes have been cracked open.

I, on the other hand, will probably have a poached egg on my buttery toast and leave the hot chocolate to the little humans. Don’t get me wrong: I like hot chocolate but I don’t think it works with toast. But then again, what do I know.

In a bid to kill the hot chocolate tradition, I have tried to offer alternatives, namely bacon sandwiches (with the condiment of choice) or cheesy scrambled egg on more toast or – and I thought I was onto a winner with this – home made hash browns accompanied by eggs of some description. I even volunteered to make hollandaise sauce!

As part of this persuasion tactic ahead of Christmas, I made hash browns last week and served them up with smokey bacon and soft poached eggs. Listening to the ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ as the hash browns were being devoured I thought I had consigned the traditional hot chocolate to the history books but alas, the only thing I succeeded in doing was shooting myself in the foot.

It was decreed that the hot chocolate and buttery toast would remain the traditional Christmas Day breakfast – no argument could be broached for future reference – and as to the home-made hash browns, these would become a tradition for Boxing Day morning every year.

“Fine!” I huffed internally and for a brief time I considered making the hash browns on Christmas morning just for me but then I remembered, I’d have enough to do.

However, I heartily recommend these bad boys for any breakfast or brunch at any time of the year. They are so delicious in fact, you could happily eat them cold with les aperitifs or better still, sneak some into your Christmas sandwiches later in the evening.

For maximum effect, you’d be better off having someone else make these for you (they’re a little labour intensive) but even if you have to go to the bother yourself, you’ll still be joining in with the chorus of ‘oohs’ and ‘ahhs’ at the table. In my mind, they are unbeatable with those aforementioned poached eggs and bacon and it’s only a pity they aren’t regulars in local restaurants.

INGREDIENTS

four medium sized floury spuds (I used Roosters), grated

1 medium onion, grated

1 large egg, whisked

lots and lots of seasoning

oil for frying

THE PLAN

This is very simple if a little long-winded. However, it’s very much worth your time.

Start by peeling and then grating the spuds and onion directly onto a clean tea towel. That done, pull up the corners of the towel and then twist the grated mixture and then twist some more. The idea is to squeeze out as much of the spuddy water as you can. Take your time with this because the more water you can get out, the better the hash browns will be.

Once squeezed, dump the grated mixture into a large bowl and give it a good mix.

Give it a good grind of seasoning (it’ll be bland otherwise) and then add the whisked egg and beat through.

Add a goodly drizzle of oil to a large frying pan and bring to a medium to high heat (mine is set at 7). Once hot, add spoonfuls of the mix onto the pan and gently press down and shape. I do two at a time, as per the one of the pics. You can also keep the cooked ‘browns hot in the oven as you cook through the whole mixture.

With an extra grinding of salt and a squirt of red sauce, these can be eaten in the hand. Otherwise, serve up with a poached egg and possibly a few slices of good bacon.

Roll on Boxing Day!

And by the way, Happy Christmas!