Monday's Menu

Hubby has tried to make potato cakes a few times since we've been married. He has often commented on how much he likes them. I always thought they sounded kind of... well... ick. I'm not sure why really. I just did.

We had made a small version of a Thanksgiving dinner after getting home from celebrating Thanksgiving with relatives though, leaving us with a bowl of leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge. So I decided to give it a try.

I had expected that Hubby would be happy. I did not expect that Chick and Dude would go nuts over them. Rugrat is good about eating anything like that so I had assumed that it would be she and Hubby mainly eating them.

But the Chick, who has always despised potato foods with the exceptions of loaded baked potatoes and barbecue chips, ate several (I made them small). Mashed potatoes are the bane of her existence so that really shocked me. Dude wasn't quite as big a shock. Mashed potatoes are among his favorite foods, but I thought he might take offense that I had 'messed with' the mashed potatoes.

To me, they pretty much tasted like a hash brown from Mcdonald's. I didn't really get the fuss. In fact, sometimes, I think they talk great about something I try by unspoken consensus just so I won't get frustrated and stop cooking at all. But these disappeared so quickly I couldn't believe it.

I had assumed that, if nothing else, making these would give me a reasonable excuse to get rid of the mashed potatoes even if I threw out half of the potato cakes. It had made quite a pile. Imagine my surprise when I put an empty dish in the sink then.

The recipe I played with (of course:) ) was here. I followed some of the advice in the comments and changed it up. I've already had requests for more. Here's what I did.


Potato Cakes

1 medium onion, chopped
2 Tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups mashed potatoes
1/4 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
approximately 1/4-1/2 cup shredded cheddar, if desired
oil

Saute onion in butter until tender. In mixing bowl, lightly beat one egg. Mix in onion, potatoes, flour, salt, pepper, and cheddar.
In skillet, heat oil. Drop by spoonfuls into hot oil. When golden brown on bottom, flip over to cook other side. Remove from oil. Drain on paper towels. Serve warm.