Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
May 8th, 2008 by Marilyn
There were some very good mashed potatoes on a shelf in the fridge, leftovers with nothing to do. For me, a container of fluffy whiteness is a waving red flag – I’ve been fine-tuning “mashed potato cakes” for years, and if there’s even a few spoonfuls around, they’ll soon be scooped and pressed and plopped in a pan.
Easy, eh?
Well in theory, yes – but in real life, coaxing whipped potatoes into crispy cakes takes a little doing, and yesterday, I finally got it done. Let’s take a look:
My ice cream scoop is a seasoned veteran and does not shirk potato duty. Summer will be back before you know it, and that means Mr. Scoop up there is training for Dulce de Leche season. So the more work, the better.
Scoop and press into little velvety pancakes. Palm-sized carbs, I heart you.
Set up two small bowls: one with an egg-milk mixture and one with seasoned bread crumbs. Dip the potato cake in the egg mixture, then coat both sides in bread crumbs.
I had some Panko bread crumbs in the pantry – the Japanese breading that makes tempura magic – and decided it was just right for potato cakes. It was.
Time to fry! Do not be afraid. Butter is your friend.
Drain their browned goodness on paper towels, sprinkle with salt and ground pepper, and serve.
Crispy on the outside, steamy soft on the inside. What finally solved this was giving mashed potatoes the crabcake treatment, and they came out Panko perfect. If I were French I’d add some greens, a nice vinaigrette, a glass of red wine and call it dinner. But I’m in the middle of the Midwest on a sky blue day – so I’ll just call it lunch. And a very fine lunch, at that.
that looks so delicious!
tonight i was going to “pull a marilyn” and take a picture of my shrimp-mushroom fajitas to show the world, but i forgot and ate them too quick. oops! there’s always next time, i guess.
*Sigh* Mashed potatoes never last long enough around here to become leftovers.
I am so drooling right now. Will you make my lunch tomorrow?
Natalie – show those shrimp-mushroom fajitas to the world, delicious!
Joanne – I made too much. What can I say.
Cath – I only wish we were having lunch today. Yello Sub, anyone?
mmmmmmmpotatoesmmmmmmmm
I’ve tried a dozen ways to make PP soft inside but crunchy outside. I never thought to use Panko on these, and I use Panko a lot. These were the best PP and the way I will make them from now on. I keep boxes of Panko in the freezer so I will never run out. Thank you for your post.