Potato Pancakes

This is a savoury dish that gives you some variety in your potato side dish at dinner. It’s also a lovely accompaniment to a breakfast, particularly with a fried egg perched on top of the potato pancake.

Potato Pancakes
Ingredients:
4 large potatoes, peeled
½ cup milk
1 onion, minced fine
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp minced parsley (optional)
⅓ cup flour
½ tsp salt
3 tsp butter

Preparation:
Grate potatoes coarsely. Place in a bowl and cover with milk. Refrigerate for 2 or more hours.

Remove potatoes from fridge, pour off and discard milk. Add onion, egg, parsley and salt and mix. Sprinkle with flour and mix gently to distribute flour throughout.

Melt butter in bottom of heavy skillet.

Using a dry measuring cup, scoop ⅓ cup of mixture and place mixture in hot butter. Flatten to ¼” with spatula and fry until golden on one side. Flip and fry second side until golden, drain on paper towels and serve More than one pancake can be cooked at a time in the skillet, if it is large enough. Add butter to pan as needed.


Photo by ScottFeldstein, Flickr

Instant Potatoes that Taste Homemade

For years I hosted either Thanksgiving or Christmas dinner for the family at my house…sometimes both. Making dressing (from scratch) and roasting a 22 lb turkey is a load of work. Add freshly made pies (including Gramma’s homemade pie crust) and rolls and a kitchen too small for a helper, and it becomes obvious why, when taste would not be compromised, I took the occasional shortcut.

My daughter, who had come for dinner with her family, popped into the kitchen one holiday as I was making the mashed potatoes, stopped dead, and dropped her jaw open. “When did you start using instant mashed potatoes?” she asked incredulously. I stirred the pot and just smiled, handing her a serving dish to put on the table.

“I always use instant potatoes when I’m doing a big meal like this,” I told her, but she didn’t believe me. You see, instant mashed potatoes lack the creamy richness of homemade, and can have a subtle grittiness…and even a faint cardboardy taste…that gives away their time in the box. The reason my daughter was so shocked is that the way I made the instant potatoes, the taste and texture don’t give their origins away, so it never occurred to her that they might not be freshly made!

Quickie Mashed Potatoes

(6 servings)

Ingredients:

2 cups milk

3 tbs. butter (not margarine)

½ tsp salt

¾ cup cream

2 cups high-quality instant mashed potatoes (Betty Crocker Potato Buds recommended)

Preparation:

Heat milk, butter and salt to just before milk boils

Remove from heat

Stir in cream and potatoes with a fork until potatoes are the desired consistency. (Do not whip)

These will get stiff if allowed to sit for any length of time, so do not prepare until just before serving. If they must be thinned out, stir in more cream in ¼ cup increments.

My Grandmothers’ Iowa Potato Salad

Tangy Potato Salad
When I was a girl, I was amazed that both of my grandmothers made the same potato salad…as did several of the local farm wives. It wasn’t until I was older and met a woman completely unacquainted with my family and friends who made exactly the same potato salad that I realized the connection: they were all from the MidWest, most of them from Iowa. This deliciously tangy potato salad keeps for several days and the longer it sits in the fridge, the better it gets!

If you are making boiled potatoes for dinner, throw some extra in the pot so you will have left over potatoes the next day for potato salad. This is a crowd pleaser and has found favour with everyone I have served it to.

Ingredients:
2 lbs (1 kg) White Rose or Yukon Gold potatoes
2 medium onions
6 large eggs
Miracle Whip
French’s mustard (yellow mustard)
White Vinegar
½ small tin sliced black olives, drained (optional)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prepare:
The night before or morning of serving day:
Cut potatoes into bite size (peeling is optional), place in large pot. Cover with cold salted water. Bring to a boil and gently boil (uncovered) until potatoes are fork tender. Drain thoroughly and set aside in colander.

Hard boil the eggs, remove shells, and set aside.

When eggs and potatoes are cool, place in bowls, cover and refrigerate for a minimum of four hours.

Serving day:
Peel and chop onion, add to potatoes.
Cut eggs into bite sized pieces and add to potatoes.
Add olives to potatoes

In a separate bowl place 1 cup Miracle Whip, ⅓ cup prepared mustard, 1 tsp. white vinegar, and ½ tsp salt. Stir briskly and taste. The dressing should be a bit tart, but none of the three flavours should dominate. If the mustard dominates, add some more Miracle Whip; if the Miracle Whip dominates, add some more mustard; if the dressing lacks tartness, add a little vinegar.

Once the dressing is satisfactory, pour it over the potato mixture and fold in, coating the ingredients thoroughly (you may need to make more dressing if you like your potato salad “goopy”). Return the bowl to the refrigerator for at least two hours to allow the flavours to marry. Immediately before serving, sprinkle lightly with freshly ground pepper.