A few weeks ago Valli from More Than Burnt Toast posted on how to make the ultimate comfort food: smooth, creamy mashed potatoes. To her very useful list of tips, I added one extra:
- Always make too much mash, for the leftovers can be turned into potato cakes the next day.
More often that not, my potato cakes consist of nothing more than well seasoned mash, mixed with spring onions and fried in a little butter – yum yum – but for a more substantial meal, I like to make simple fish cakes by mixing a tin of salmon with double the quantity of mashed potatoes and a generous handful of chopped parsley. Fried gently in a little olive oil and served with salad, it makes for a very comforting, very tasty and very easy dinner.
A Wee Bit of Cooking 
How right you are! I haven’t made fishcakes for a little while now – so, a timely reminder… Thank you!
Happy Robbie Burns day, Wendy…did ya stab the haggis yet?
I think I’ll go look for pub that’s serving haggis, neaps and mashed parsnips…and a bottle of Glennkinchie! lol
I just made burns lunch for my collegues- I thought I made too much mash. But the greedy lot ate it all!! oh well, next time!!
Happy Burns Day!
I fully expected to see something Burns Night here today! Hope you’re celebrating in style and post about it later. 🙂
A Fork Full of Spaghetti – I adore them so they’re a staple in my house. 🙂
Peter – Thank you. Haggis is steaming as I type…
Sarah – You need to hide some next time!
Annemarie – The day’s not over yet, m’dear…
Valli and her potatoes, gotta love’em! And fish cakes, all the better!
Yum!
looks delicious and yes, comfort food at its finest!
Deb – Agreed!
Christina – Yum yum.
Brianna – It’s very grey here today. Another fish cake day, perhaps?
Use half mashed spuds and half corsely grated uncooked spuds, one eggs and enough matzo meal to provide the consistency of brick mortar. If you can’t find Matzo meal, whizz some jacobs crackers through a food processor until a bread crumb size… bread crumbs don’t provide the same nutty taste that matzo meal gives.
Use plenty of oil (1/4 inch deep) in a sauce pan and fry 3 or 4 dollops at a time, turning them once so they cook on both sides. Drain on kitchen paper and serve warm to hot.
They are called Latkes (pronounced Lat-ker(s)) or Potato Pancakes and are a traditional Jewish food around Chanukah (8 days in December), but they taste great all year around.
As long as they are not to thick, the raw potato cooks on the inside, it crisps on the outside and the mash gives it a nice fluffy texture.
My mom and Nan used to make potato and fish cakes in Newfoundland. My Nan made the best potato cakes with both caramelized and raw onion, frying them in bacon fat. The sweet smokiness from the caramelized onions and bacon fat and then the wonderful crunch of the raw onion. My mom would used fresh poached cod and salted cad in her fish cakes. Making them now brings me back to my childhood!