Got an early start on this one. I had some beautiful potatoes left over from the CSA that didn't get mashed last week. They weren't Russets, but Yukon Gold. They were cleaned and set on their salty bed this morning, waiting for the oven to turn on at 4:30 PM. The potatoes weren't that big, so I didn't think the'd take the full hour and a half to make. Turns out they did bake for that long since I didn't get home to rescue them until after 6 PM. I had visions of our house burning down. Fortunately it didn't but I was nervous until I turned the corner and didn't see any flames.
So I got them out of the oven and the skins were nice and crispy. I split them in 1/2 and scooped out the flesh. The skins looked so good, I couldn't throw them away so I sprinkled them with some shredded cheddar and put them in the oven. I didn't have time to put the potatoes through a strainer so just used the spoon and did a basic mash. All looked very good and I seasoned with salt and pepper before frying in a little butter. They looked beautiful. I even took some cheddar and sprinkled it on top of it before flipping, so the cheese got nice and crispy. These reminded me of my mother making mashed potato pancakes with leftover potatoes. She'd mix in an egg, cheese and sauteed onions. I think that was the key, the onions. These were very bland and I thought I added in enough salt. We tried them with maple syrup and of course they were good, but I think they should have been able to stand up on their own. I loved the texture and think I'll keep the process but add in the onions like mom used to make!
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| crispy potatoes |
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| topped with cheese |
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| pancakes paired with crisp potato skins |
10 comments:
Your matafan look delicious. We all liked these pancakes and I am anxious to make them again as part of a meal...lots of good ideas today. I ate too many while frying them to think about foods to compliment this dish...that means they are good.
I found them to be very bland too and ended up sprinkling on cheese at the end. Cheese makings everything better! :) Yours look really delicious!
Your pancakes look fluffy and delicious, as does your crisp potato skin! I actually seasoned at the end and I tasted the batter before frying, so it tasted just right.
As for the amount of salt I used, I halved the recipe and sprinkled about 1/2 a teaspoon or so? Like I said though, I tasted the raw batter right at the end in order to adjust the seasoning :).
Adding sauteed onions sounds great. I should have kept the skins. I feel like I wasted the most flavorful part!
Mom is smart! Yes, ONIONS for these!
Adding onions sounds delicious! I've never had these before so I had no expectations! But I noticed some thought these were a bit on the bland side, maybe that's why I soaked mine in maple syrup! Really added a boost of flavour!
I added a lot of salt and pepper, but think these are best as a blank canvas for us to play with both toppings and mix-ins. I love the cheddar crusts from the ones in the back of the griddle.
I thought they needed something added in as well, some cheese, some bell pepper, hot pepper...wished in hindsight I had just gone for it! Yours look really good and I like that you added the cheese to the skins and the cakes. I stood over the stove and ate the skins with butter while the cakes cooked. LOL.
Thank you all for your comments. We finished them tonight and they actually improved. What I liked better about these was the texture, so yes, will try them again and add the onions and more salt & pepper. Maybe even a little blue cheese crumbles in the batter. Yum!
They look terrific - a little cheese never hurt anything!
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