Masher Cakes

If you should, by some miracle, find yourself with left-over mashed potatoes, this is a crunchy delicious way to finish them off. I'll bet you could also make them with store-bought mashers like Yoder's or Bob Evans.  I've made a similar dish frequently with Market Day's frozen Mashed Potato Patties but this is the first time I've tried making my own. The crunchy breadcrumbs add a great touch; I much prefer these!

This recipe is from Alton Brown's "Good Eats", a great cookbook if you appreciate the science behind cooking. Alton calls for parsley, thyme, or green onions to season the mashers but you can put in any combination of spices you'd prefer (indian style with ginger, tumeric, and coriander?). I added garlic (of course) and some italian seasoning. No salt or pepper as they were already seasoned for their previous incarnation of mashers. I also had enough potatoes to at least double the recipe.

I often top the patties with Boursin soft cheese and some crumbled bacon. *drooling* Today, I changed it up with some sour cream, smoked salmon, and capers. Also delicious!

Ingredients

10 oz mashed potatoes (about 2 servings)

1 tbsp herbs (parsley, thyme, Italian herbs, garlic and/or green onions)

1 large egg

1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

Directions

Combine the potatoes, herbs, and egg in a bowl. Divide the mixture evenly. Flatten these gently into rounds approximately 3 inches in diameter. Set aside on parchment paper.

Scatter the breadcrumbs in a shallow dish and coat the cakes one at a time. You don't want to handle the fragile cakes more than necessary so it was easier to scatter more breadcrumbs on top of the cake rather than risk flipping them. Return each coated cake to the parchment (cakes can be refrigerated for several hours at this point).

Fry the cakes for 2-3 minutes per side (if frying in a pan with oil) or total if using a deep fryer. Remove carefully with large slotted spoon or flat spatula when they are golden brown.

Drain and let cool for 2-3 minutes before serving.