Sunday, May 4, 2014

Potcakes (not the four legged variety either)

A few years back we were on vacation and happened upon a restaurant called Grannies's.

With a name like that, we had to try it.

C'mon, Grannie's?   Country cooking, visions of a grandmother standing over a stove, stirring something that smelled like heaven and tasted as good as it smelled.

So we went in and looked at the menu.  I like reading menu's before I try the food out.  Sometimes the menu just gets downright silly with the descriptions, and you wonder why someone will shell out good money for spinach that was harvested using only gently sustainable efforts on the latter side of a new moon..

You've read that kind of menu, I know you have.  And maybe you've eaten there as well, but I love seeing the descriptions of the food offered at any new restaurant I want to try.

This menu was pretty basic, but they had one item on there that stood out for me.   And that was the Potcakes.  The only other Potcakes I'd ever heard of were the dogs that you find in the Bahamas.
Potcakes

So I ordered them as my side to the meatloaf, and they were so good.   Deep fried potato cakes, crispy and melty and yummy, with little bits of sweet onions mixed in.   

I've been trying to replicate them ever since, with no success.   I've actually eaten the evidence of my failures.  Although some have been consigned as offerings to the Kitchen Goddess. sigh

I finally done did it.   Made them, just the way I remember those Potcakes from so long ago.   And all it took was me messing up some mashed potatoes and deciding to take that failure and make a potato cake for lunch.    I'd made the mashed taters with new Yukon Gold potatoes and they didn't have the starch in them like russets, and quite frankly they were a little gluey.  I ate a little bit of them, then consigned the remainder to the fridge.

I didn't measure out exactly, but I had about 1 1/2 cups of mashed potatoes (made with fresh gold potatoes, not russet.   I just added an egg, about 1/2 cup of Wondra flour, mixed that all up with half a chopped onion and then fried them in a little hot oil.  
Potcakes cooking in the pan


I then glopped (technical term here) some Creme Fraiche on top of them and proceeded to eat three of them.  I left one for later.
Potcakes with creme fraiche

OK, so I ate the first one I took a picture of, then proceeded to eat two more.
Potcakes with creme fraiche
But they were worth it.

So, the next time you make gluey mashed taters, try adding a little Wondra Flour, a chopped onion and an egg to them, and frying them up as Potcakes.   



yield: 4-6 servingsprint recipe

Potcakes

prep time: 5 MINScook time: 10 MINStotal time: 15 mins
These Potcakes replicate some I had at a restaurant called Grannie's many years ago. Using leftover (overmixed) mashed potatoes as the base, these came out perfect

INGREDIENTS:

  • 1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes, made with either red potatoes or yukon gold new potatoes
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup + AP flour or Wondra Flour
  • 1 small onion, minced, about 1/2 cup
  • oil for frying
  • 1/2 cup Creme Fraiche or Sour Cream

INSTRUCTIONS:

  1. Mix the potatoes with the flour, egg and onion. 
  2.  Heat a skillet over medium high heat. Add a little oil, about a tablespoon or so. Take a soupspoon full of potatoes and add to the hot oil. Fry on each side until golden brown, and serve with a dollop of Creme Fraiche or sour cream on top.
Created using The Recipes Generator
Sidsel Munkholm - Author
Sidsel Munkholm - Author

Sid loves to cook, feed people and have fun in the kitchen. She shares her successes and the involuntary offerings she sometimes gives the kitchen goddess as well. And she's still looking for the mythical fairy to help her clean the kitchen after a marathon cooking session. Currently working on a cookbook showcasing the recipes from her Danish heritage.

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