My Recipe Box - Potato Cakes/Fritters

O'Leary PEI - everything potato! Including potato fudge and ice cream.

July 2020 - Toronto ON

Every culture has a type of potato cake.
Draniki, deruny, latkes, raggmunk or boxties, tatties, gamja-jeon,
placki ziemniaczane, bramborák, kuku sib zamini,

My mother often made these and I continue to make them her way using leftover mashed potatoes. Mind you, I have been known to make mashed potatoes just to make the cakes.

My Mother's Potato Cakes
Plain flour , plus extra for dusting

Leftover mashed potatoes (mashed with milk and butter)

Combine leftover mashed potatoes and flour  in a bowl; knead until smooth. Flatten into a patty about 3 inches high and use a glass or cup to form patties. Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat; add the patties and cook until golden brown, 4 to 5 minutes per side, adding more butter to the pan as needed. Season with salt and top with butter to serve.

Variations

Nothing else! I've seen potato cake recipes with an egg, cream, garlic, horseradish, olive oil, lemon juice, cheese, the list goes on and on.

I have added other mashed vegetables at times when I make them for lunch, such as carrots, turnips, cauliflower etc.

Broccoli fritters

I have also adopted the European practice of topping them with sour cream with scallions.

I recently made these and they were good! Served with black pudding.

Mushroom stuffed potato cakes
INGREDIENTS:
Leftover mashed potatoes
Brown mushrooms
Flour (add more flour as needed)
Shredded cheddar cheese
Extra virgin olive oil

METHOD
Fry the mushrooms in olive oil in a frying pan.
Mix the potatoes and flour as above. Using a rolling pin flatten them further and cut into an even number of discs,

Fill one disc with prepared mushrooms and grated cheese and put another disc on top and seal the edges.

Sprinkle with salt and top with butter.

You could come up with all kinds of variations using different cheeses, add garlic and herbs. Add onions to mashed potatoes.