A delicious discovery on a disorganised day

There are times when I am organised. I plan a menu for the entire week, do the bulk of the shopping at the weekend and then buy the fresh food - veggies, fish, meat, etc - as and when I need it.

Unfortunately, sightings of this organised Sharon are few and far between. Much more often, what happens is that six o'clock sees me standing peering into my fridge, wondering what I can rustle up from the assembled ingredients I find before me.

At such times, http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/ and its quick recipe finder have been known to come to the rescue. This ingenious tool allows you to type in a list of ingredients, which it then crossreferences against the recipes in its database. For example, if you type in tomatoes and cheese, you get suggestions for countless dishes, everything from goat's cheese cannelloni with cherry tomatoes to cheesy quesadillas with tomatoes.

On one such disorganised day last week, I could only find potatoes, turnips, cabbage and cheese in my (very badly stocked) fridge.


Feeling decidedly uninspired, I turned to the BBC for help once more. I didn't think that even its prodigious catalogue of recipes could create something appetising from such everyday ingredients and was mentally preparing myself to put on my coat and hat and venture out to the shpos when up flashed RUMBLDETHUMPS.

From such a strange (amost fairytale-like) name, an absolutely delicious dish was to come. A simple dish that you could all rustle up at home. A dish that is perfect for these cold winter evenings. A dish that can be partnered with everything from bacon to fish. And I dish that I urge you all to try soon.

Here's how you make it.

Ingredients:
600g large potatoes, peeled and chopped into chunks
400g turnip, peeled and chopped into chunks
75g butter
250g savoy cabbage or kale, finely sliced
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
25g cheddar cheese grated

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.

Cook the potatoes and the turnips in a saucepan of salted boiling water until tender. Drain and return to the pan.

Heat 50g of the butter in a pan and gently cook the cabbage in the butter for a few minutes until it is tender but still retains its colour.

Add the cabbage to the pan with the potatoes and turnips. Add the remaining butter and mash everything together. Season to taste with the salt and pepper.

Place in an ovenproof lidded dish and top with the cheese. Cover with the lid and bake for about 30mins. Remove the lid and continue to cook for a further 15mins, until golden on top.

Dig in!