Smoked Back Bacon with Boxty, Red Onion and Blackcurrant Jam and Steamed Greens

Ingredients

• reduced salt back bacon joint
• 1 packet steam fresh frozen broccoli, pea and sugar snaps, cooked as per pack instructions
• red onion and blackcurrant jam:
• 3 red onions (cut in half and finely sliced)
• 1 tin blackcurrants (drained and half of juice reserved)
• 3 tblsp soy sauce
• 2 pinches sea salt
• 3 pinches nutmeg
• 2 tblsp demerara sugar
• 2 tblsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tblsp sunflower oil
• boxty (makes 8 cakes):
• 40 g scallions, finely chopped (3-4 times)
• 300 g grated raw potato
• 300 g baked potato (bake in oven at 200°c/gas 6 for 1 hour. scoop out insides and mash.)
• 100 g flour
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 10-30 ml milk

 

Method

1. For Bacon:
2. Put the bacon joint into a pot. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Once boiling, change the water and bring to the boil again. Turn down the heat and simmer for 1 hour.
3. Strain the bacon and remove from the pot. In a medium-hot pan brown the fat on the bacon joint. Turn using a carving fork. Keep the bacon fat in the pan to cook the Boxty cake.
4. To keep the bacon warm cover in tinfoil and put into an oven at 70°C/gas mark 1 until ready to serve.
5. For Red Onion and Blackcurrant Jam:
6. Fry the onions in a pot with the sunflower oil for 5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients except blackcurrants and simmer for 20 minutes. Stir occasionally.
7. Remove from the heat and add the blackcurrants. Mix well and keep at room temperature until ready to serve.
8. For Boxty:
9. In a large bowl mix all ingredients together well except milk. Depending on how dry the mixture is, add the milk as required. When mixed well divide into 8 and shape into round flat cakes, 2cm thick.
10. On a medium heat, using the pan with the bacon fat, cook and brown the potato cakes each side for 4 minutes and serve.
11. To serve:
12. Slice the cooked bacon joint as required. Serve two potato cakes per person served with lashings of red onion and blackcurrant jam and some steamed greens on the side. Delicious!