Friday Flashback: Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
Nov 28th, 2008 by Marilyn
Hope everyone had a wonderful holiday! Right now I am unable to think or write about food – well, at least for a little while, before my cranberry alarm goes off and demands another plate. Until then, please enjoy this useful and delicious rerun, specially selected by the flashback gods for the day after Thanksgiving, or as we call it, the Day of Fridge Container Worship.
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Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes
from May 8, 2008
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.
geez…we just finished the left over mashed potaotes…;-)
Those look good all crusty and browned!
Great idea! We have a vat of mashers just waiting to be “repurposed.” Thank you for some good inspiration! Hope that you guys had a wonderful T-Giving
If it weren’t for this wretched Thanksgiving cold I have at present, I would promptly leap off this sofa and run to the fridge to see if I have any mashers left!! Those look oober yummy. Will have to try soon. As for cranberry goodness, I myself stuck with a Cranberry Chutney, courtesy of Martha Stewart. It was deeeelish!
Hope your Thanksgiving was as fabulous as mine!! *wink and a smile*
We call that bubble-and-squeak over here in the UK. You can put all sorts of vegetables and meat in with the fried potato cake, anything you’ve got left over from roast dinner really.
But your potato cakes look oh-so-tasty too!
These look lovely. The only problem is having the left over mashed potatoes to make them with! No matter how many I made there never seem to be any left over.
I have never had a good potato pancake, although I keep ordering them because in theory they sound like something I’d love. I’m always disappointed by the texture. The batter and panko fried in butter make these gorgeous and sound perfect.
Your recipe inspired me. I did not have the bread crumbs or Panko (which is an excellent breading I have used), so I had a half of can of french fried onions (used other half for green been casserole) and I crumbled them with bread I toasted and crumbled to make the difference. Also added in a can of summer crisp corn and it was a big hit. thanks for the inspiration