Or for those of a non Scottish persuasion, Swede and Potato Cake. This was served as an accompaniment to our Chicken and Mushroom Pie the other night. It was supposed to have slices of Pancetta or streaky bacon on the top/bottom but the bacon had gone off. Oopsie! I shall give the recipe as for bacon but it was perfectly nice without it. I could, of course have just served swede and potato mash but serving it as a cake and cutting slices is a much more fun way of presenting a vegetable. The crispy edges were rather nice too! One note though, my ancient masher isn’t great at getting to the very bottom of the pan so there were larger lumps of swede in this, with a better masher I’m sure you could achieve a finer consistency.
Serves 6
1/2 a large swede
3 baking potatoes
approx 6 rashers streaky bacon/pancetta
a good knob of butter (approx 50g if you’re measuring)
– Bring a large pan of asalted water to the boil on the hob.
– Peel and chop the swede and potatoes into roughtly 1cm chunks.
– Add the swede to the boiling water.
– After 10 minutes add the potatoes.
– Continue to boil for another 20 minutes until a sharp knife goes in smoothly.
– Drain the water from the pan and return the swede and potato to a low heat to dry out any remaining water.
– Remove from the heat, add half the butter, season to taste and then mash.
– Grease a round ovenproof serving dish, or even a flan dish or sandwich tin if you don’t have anything else suitable, with sunflower oil.
– Arrange the strips of bacon in a cross, then add in extra stripes on the quarters, like the union flag.
– Scoop the mash into the dish and smooth over the top.
– Dot the remaining butter all over.
– Place in the oven at Gas Mark 7 and bake for 40 minutes until crispy and golden brown on top.
– Run a knife around the outside to losen then turn out onto a serving plate.
– Cut slices to serve.
Anna in the kitchen 