Mashed potato, an egg, some cheese, fresh parsley, and seasonings; that’s all it takes (well… and a bit of flour, butter, and canola oil) to make these fine little cakes o’ goodness.
I had made some mashed potatoes to go with a meatloaf, and I knew that using an entire three-pound bag of baby golden potatoes was going to make way too much for dinner and then leftovers; but then I recalled this recipe, and all was right with the world…
INGREDIENTS:
•2 cups mashed potatoes
•1/2 cup minced fresh parsley
•1 egg
•1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used cheddar)
•1/2 tsp seasoned salt
•1/2 tsp Tellicherry pepper
•Flour
•Butter
•Canola oil
Lightly whisk the egg, then combine with the parsley and seasonings and add to the mashed potatoes along with the cheese, stirring to combine.
Scoop out portions (I use an ice cream scoop) and shape into ball – I don’t try to get them too firm or packed, just gathered together enough that they hold together.
Add some flour to a shallow bowl and melt three tablespoons of butter with three tablespoons of canola oil in a skillet over medium heat.
Roll the potato balls in the flour to coat, then add them, three or four at a time, to the skillet, lightly flattening the ball into a cake once it’s in the fat.
Cook for four minutes or so, until nicely golden brown, then flip and cook for another four minutes.
Transfer the cooked cakes to a plate and keep warm, then repeat with the remaining potato cakes – I ended up with ten cakes total using my ice cream scoop as a dipper.
We had our cakes with some salmon and an interesting take on Russian dressing-rémoulade sauce I had come across.
Of course, ten potato cakes – no matter how tasty – was more than just the two of us could eat at one sitting, so I had leftovers of my attempt to use up leftovers. Lucky me! A couple of those cakes, after a quick zap in the ‘wave, turned out to be just the thing when drizzled with soy sauce and rice vinegar dressing and sprinkled with scallion.