Let the Sky Rain Potatoes!

Potatoes are almost everybody’s favorite root vegetable.  My husband loves them.  I’m more of a cabbage person. And yet, we’re happily married. Potatoes and cabbage make a happy marriage, too, in the classic Celtic dish bubble and squeak.

The nutty name comes from the sound of potatoes bubbling on the boil and then squeaking in the hot skillet. It’s not the most Instagramable of dishes, but it’s one of the most beloved, claimed by England and Ireland.

For more root recipes you’ll love, join me 6pm ET February 9 for Roots!  An Edible Exploration of the Vegetable Underground.  Class is free, virtual, and hosted by the Pinecrest Branch of Miami Dade Public Library.  Register here.

How to Make 

1. Tip chopped potatoes into a large pot. Cover with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then let them bubble away, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender and yield when poked with a fork or knife, about 15 minutes. 
2. Drain in a colander. (Potatoes may be cooked up to a day ahead, then cooled, tightly covered and refrigerated. Remove from fridge and bring them back to room temperature for about an hour before proceeding.)
3. In a 10-inch skillet, preferably cast iron, melt vegan butter over medium-high heat. 
4. Add sliced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften and turn golden. 
5. Add chopped cabbage and give a quick sauté, stirring frequently, until the greens are tender but still bright, about 5 minutes.
6. Mix in potatoes, mashing and stirring them into the onions and greens. Go for lumpy and hashlike, not fluffy and uniformly mashed. Sprinkle in thyme leaves, if using, and season everything generously with sea salt and pepper.
7. Use a wooden spoon or spatula to press everything down to form a cake. Cook, without stirring, until potatoes squeak and underside is crusty and golden, about 10 minutes.
8. Spoon and serve at once. 
9. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, place a large plate over the top of the skillet and carefully turn out the potato cake, so the crusty side is on top. If it comes out in pieces, no worries, just press everything back into place. Then slide it back into the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
10. Eat. Enjoy.

Peel your spuds before cooking if smooth is your groove. I don’t always peel the potatoes, especially with new potatoes with their thin skins, like the red bliss potatoes I use here.  I like texture.

There are only a few ingredients here, so quality counts.  High-performing vegan butter like Miyokos really makes this dish.

You can make bubble and squeak even more nutrient-dense by swapping cooked white beans, like cannellini or butter beans for the potatoes. You get potatoey fluffiness and flavor, but more protein and fiber and a lower glycemic load.

Not a cabbage person?  Swap sliced Brussels sprouts, or shredded kale or collards.

Ramp up the flavors by adding 

— a tablespoon or two of nutritional yeast 
— a teaspoon of smoked paprika or curry powder
— crumble in some plantbased bacon, if you like it. 
but you owe it to yourself — and the Irish — to try the simple farm-fresh original.

Shredded, sautéed, stuffed — you can make potatoes that way, and cabbage, too.  

The one thing you can do to cabbage you shouldn’t do to a potato is eat it raw.  Raw potato makes for unhappy tummy, thanks to lectins, solanines and other natural chemical compounds that get whisked away or at least neutralized when potatoes are cooked.

”Let the sky rain potatoes!” is from Shakespeare’s The Merry Wives of Windsor.  When I first heard this line, all I could imagine was a hail storm of potatoes hitting me in the head. Ouch. Actually, the line refers to sweet potatoes, which were relatively new to England in Shakespeare’s day. People considered them aphrodisiacs.  Let the sky rain potatoes means, hey, I’m in the mood for love.

Sweet potatoes and other aphrodisiacs are on the menu in my February 9 class Roots!  An Edible Exploration of the Vegetable Underground.  Class is free, virtual, and hosted by the Pinecrest Branch of Miami Dade Public Library.  Register here.

Bubble and Squeak

The recipe in one sentence — sauté an onion in vegan butter until it carameizes, add a ridiculous amount of shredded cabbage, which cooks quick, tumble in boiled potatoes and mash together in a hot skillet, pressing down so it gets crusty and squeaky. My potatoes don’t always squeak, but my husband loves potatoes and he loves this dish. I love bubble and squeak because it’s quick, easy and is a brilliant use of greens. It’s a welcoming warming dish for winter for both of us, and for you, too.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Course Main Course, Side Dish

Cuisine British, Irish

Ingredients

  

• 1 pound baking potatoes about 2, halved and chopped into bite-sized pieces
• 4 tablespoons vegan butter such as Miyoko’s
• 1 onion thinly sliced
• 1 bunch kale 1/2 cabbage thinly sliced into ribbons or a dozen or so Brussels sprouts, halved
• a handful fresh thyme leaves optional
• sea salt and fresh ground pepper

Instructions

 

• Spill chopped potatoes into a large pot. Cover with about an inch of water. Bring to a boil, then let them bubble away, uncovered, until the potatoes are tender and yield when poked with a fork or knife, about 15 minutes.
• Drain in a colander. (Potatoes may be cooked up to a day ahead, then cooled, tightly covered and refrigerated. Remove from fridge and bring them back to room temperature for about an hour before proceeding.)
• In a 10-inch skillet, preferably cast iron, melt vegan butter over medium-high heat. Add sliced onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions soften and turn golden. Add chopped cabbage and give a quick sauté, stirring frequently, until the greens are tender but still bright, about 5 minutes.
• Mix in potatoes, mashing and stirring them into the onions and greens. Go for lumpy and hashlike, not fluffy and uniformly mashed. Sprinkle in thyme leaves, if using, and season everything generously with sea salt and pepper.
• Use a wooden spoon or spatula to press everything down to form a cake. Cook, without stirring, until potatoes squeak and underside is crusty and golden, about 10 minutes.
• Spoon and serve at once. Or if you’re feeling adventurous, place a large plate over the top of the skillet and carefully turn out the potato cake, so the crusty side is on top. If it comes out in pieces, no worries, just press everything back into place. Then slide it back into the skillet and cook for another 5 minutes or so.
• Eat. Enjoy.

Keyword bubble and squeak, cabbage and potatoes

More Potato and Cabbage Recipes

Different as they are, potatoes and cabbage belong together.  They’re both sturdy winter vegetables, and pair up in recipes all over the globe:

• They’re the stuffing in pierogi — savory dumplings from Eastern Europe.  Lazy Cat Kitchen shows you how to make them vegan.
• They’re smothered together in the South.
• Dianne Wenz shows off bubble and squeak’s sister, colcannon.
• Potatoes, other roots and beans come together in this Instantpot recipe from the Veggie Queen, Jill Nussinow.
• Curried Sweet Potatoes, Two Ways 
  • Curried sweet potato soup
  • Curried sweet potato of the Japanese kind, wafuu curry.

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