Boxing Day is made for this sort of cooking. The fridge is full, the pace is slower, and the best meals come from pulling together what’s left rather than starting again from scratch. A handful of potatoes, a spoonful of saved bacon fat, and some cooked gammon that just needs warming and teasing apart.
This rosti is crisp and golden, cooked patiently while the house comes back to life, topped with a soft-fried egg and finished with the most beautiful spiced apple ketchup that cuts through the richness of the succulent ham. It’s not about using everything up in one go, but about giving good leftovers the attention they deserve and turning yesterday’s feast into something quietly special today.
Ingredients
Serves 2–3
For the bacon fat rosti
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400g Maris Piper potatoes, peeled and grated
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50g bacon fat
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1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
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Salt and freshly ground black pepper
To serve
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2 eggs
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30g butter
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100g cooked gammon, pulled while warm
For the spiced apple ketchup
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3 Braeburn apples, cored and roughly diced
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2 shallots, peeled and roughly chopped
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100ml cider vinegar
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100g sugar
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1 tbsp glucose syrup
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½ tsp mixed spice
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½ tsp chilli powder
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Salt and pepper
Method
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Start with the apple ketchup.
Preheat a fan oven to 180°C. Lay the apples and shallots out on a parchment-lined tray and bake for 30–35 minutes, until soft and just beginning to caramelise at the edges. -
Tip the warm apples and shallots into a blender with the sugar, cider vinegar, chilli powder and glucose syrup. Blend slowly at first, then increase the speed until smooth. Loosen with a splash of cold water if needed. Season carefully with salt and pepper, then set aside.
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Prepare the rosti.
Wash the grated potatoes thoroughly in cold water, then drain well. Tip onto a clean tea towel and squeeze out as much moisture as you can – this is the secret to a crisp rosti. -
Transfer the potatoes to a bowl, season with salt and pepper, add the thyme leaves and mix well.
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Heat a medium frying pan over a low–medium heat and melt the bacon fat. Press the potato mixture firmly into the pan, using a spatula to compact it and tuck in the edges to form a neat round.
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Cook gently for around 15 minutes, allowing the base to set and turn golden. Flip carefully and repeat on the other side until crisp all over. Once ready, keep warm in a low oven (around 150°C).
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Fry the eggs.
Melt the butter in a frying pan over a low–medium heat. Crack in the eggs and cook gently until the whites are set but the yolks still soft – about 5 minutes. Season the yolks lightly with salt. -
To serve.
Place the rosti on a warm plate. Top with the pulled gammon, a fried egg, and a generous spoonful of spiced apple ketchup.
A dish like this doesn’t need much more. Perhaps a mug of strong coffee, or a sharp cider if the day allows.
