Mashed Potato Cakes

To make mashed potato cakes, you'll need MASHED POTATOES, believe it or not. This is really good for leftover or store bought mashed potatoes, but you can make mashed potatoes just for these cakes. Generally for mashed potatoes, cut up some peeled potatoes (although there are mashed potatoes made with skin on potatoes), boil the cut up potatoes, drain them, add butter, salt and milk (I almost always use canned evaporated milk, NOT condensed milk, and I heat a little of the milk and melt the butter along with it in the microwave; this prevents the milk and butter from cooling down the potatoes as you mash them, which can make them sticky like glue), and then use a potato masher, or better yet, an electric beater to make the mashed potatoes smooth and creamy (be careful on the amount of milk, or you'll end up with runny mashed potatoes, so it's best to add milk a little at a time as you mash the potatoes). You can also buy commercial brand mashed potatoes or use leftover mashed potatoes from last night's roast beef or roast chicken dinner. The key thing is, you want thick mashed potatoes, so you want them cold, or at least chilled, not warm right from being mashed. As I note in the recipe below, the amount of flour I list is approximate. When you begin to mix the potatoes for the cakes, it's best to add the flour a bit at a time to achieve a good consistency for your mashed potato cakes to hold together fairly well (you're not looking for a consistency to patch your cracked sidewalk, but you want the cakes to hold together once you've put them into a pan or on a griddle and spread them out to cook. Too much flour may give you a raw flour taste for your cakes; too little and they will be runny and mushy. 

 

Ingredients (about 12 potato cakes, but depends upon the size potato cakes you want):

 

3 cups of mashed potatoes

1 cup flour (approximately... use more or less for a potato cake that holds together well)

2 large eggs

4 or 5 green onions, chopped (green included)

1 cup shredded sharp cheddar or sharp American cheese

(optional) 4 bacon strips, cut into 1 inch pieces 

salt (your mashed potatoes and the cheese will have salt, so use any additional salt to your own taste)

oil for frying (I use regular olive oil, but vegetable oil/canola oil is fine)

 

Get your cold mashed potatoes, and if using bacon, fry the bacon until just done (you don't want it leathery), then drain it on paper towels. In a bowl, mix together the mashed potatoes, flour (as noted above), eggs, chopped green onions, salt, bacon bits (if using) and shredded cheese. Heat enough oil in a skillet (cast iron is good, but not necessary) to completely cover the bottom of the skillet over medium heat. I use about 1/4 cup potato batter for each cake, but you can use 2 or 3 tablespoons each (you don't want them too thick, so that they cook properly; after all, there is raw egg involved; so, like pancake thickness, not like Texas toast thickness). Once added to the hot skillet/oil, press down to spread out the batter into pancakes. Fry the cakes until golden brown on both sides. You can serve with some extra chopped green onions and/or bacon pieces on the side, as well as with some sour cream.

WORD HISTORY:

Noun-This word is related to quite a number of words, including: "nominal," "nominate" and "nomination," Latin-derived words borrowed by English from Latin, to words with "nym," like "synonym," another Latin word borrowed by English, probably from Latin-based French, but with heavy reinforcement from Latin (or perhaps the other way around), and to "name," a word from the Germanic roots of English. "Noun" goes back to Indo European "nomen," which meant "name." This gave Latin "nomen," meaning "name, name for things, materials, qualities or actions, typically used in a grammatical sense." This passed to Latin-based Old French as "nom" and "non," and this became "noun" in the Anglo-French dialect of the French spoken by the descendants of the Normans in England (also "nom" was used by some). English borrowed the word in the latter part of the 1300s as "noun," but also as "nowne."