Potato and vegetables fried up and served with a poached egg on to? Oh yes please. This is the kind of dish that manages to straddle winter comfort food and light summer suppers. For me the beauty is in the ultra crisp rosti next to the oozing yolk. And of course this uses up leftovers and for a lady like me who hates waste that’s music to my ears. If poaching eggs is something you’ve had problems with in the past do try my cheat’s poached eggs.

Ingredients:

• 400g cooked potatoes
• 150g cooked carrots, finely sliced
• 100g cooked parsnips, finely sliced
• ½ (25g) pack chives, finely chopped
• 5 large very fresh free-range eggs
• 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

Grate 400g of cooked potato into a bowl, add to that 150g of cooked carrot strips and 100g of cooked parsnip strips. Add a quarter of a pack of fresh chopped chives, some freshly ground black pepper just to season it and mix it all up. Add a beaten egg to the vegetables. Use damp hands to help the rosti mixture not to stick to you and to make really good shape patties. Scoop out one eighth of the mixture, just squash together, wash your hands and then pop 2 tablespoons of olive oil to a non-stick pan. Fry these now for 2-3 minutes on each side, until they’re really crisp and golden.

Boil a large saucepan of water and add a teaspoon of white wine vinegar. Crack one of your eggs into a ramekin dish; the reason for doing this is when you drop the egg into that simmering water it’s going to stay in one place where as if you crack it from up high it’s more likely to spread out. Simmer for 3 minutes for a perfectly poached egg. Serve the rosti with the poached egg on top, lots of black pepper and more fresh chives.