mashed potato pudding

I love it when this happens: it's the end of the week; dinner's sorted but you haven't got a scooby what to make for lunch and can't be arsed (or don't have the dosh) to make a trip to the shops. But a quick sort-out of the fridge reveals a bowl of leftover buttery mash, a bit of ham (not enough to make a sandwich), a plastic pot with three olives in it, a tiny piece of pecorino and two spring onions and a handful of mixed leaves in the salad drawer. The result? A surprisingly delicious plate of food.

Assuming your mash is already seasoned, and given this dish includes ham, pecorino and olives, I wouldn't add any salt to this.

I used pecorino because that's what I had. But I'd have used up any hard cheese that was in the fridge - parmesan, gruyère, lancashire, whatever.

serves one
1 egg
200g mashed potato (approx. ratio of potato:butter:milk at 10:1:1)
25g ham, chopped
2 spring onions, finely chopped
3 green olives, flesh chopped
25g pecorino sardo, finely grated
black pepper

Beat the egg and fold into the mash. Add the ham, spring onions, olives, cheese and black pepper and mix well. Spoon into a small souffle dish or similar and bake at 200C/180C fan for about 20-25 minutes. Serve with a handful of simply dressed salad leaves.