Things to do with Leftover Mashed Potatoes
One of the few dishes Devin ever requests is potato pancakes. There are probably as many recipes and techniques for making them as there are people who like them. In my family, we always use leftover mashed potatoes, instead of grated potatoes. I have all ideas we do that because the first time my Daddy ever made them, he was trying to use up leftover mashed potatoes- and we liked them so much he continued making them that way. Fast forward 30 or 40 years, and I'm making them the same way.
I basically tweak my buttermilk pancake recipe, which was given to me by Devin's mother. I start by nuking (normal people probably just call it microwaving) however much mashed potatoes I have leftover (or however much I want to dedicate to breakfast). This loosens them and makes them easier to mix with the other ingredients. I add 2 eggs, about a teaspoon of baking soda, a little salt, a little pepper and enough buttermilk to make it all soupy. Then the judgement call comes in. You have to add some flour or they won't come out right. But how much flour you add depends on lots of things. How humid is it? Is it raining? How much mashed potato did you use? How much buttermilk? See? It's not an exact science. I usually add enough flour to make it the consistency of thick pancake batter. After you do it once, you'll get it. Oh- and use plain all purpose flour NOT self rising.
My preferred method of cooking these is on my round cast iron griddle pan, but you can use a regular non stick skillet or an electric griddle. I use butter to fry mine, but you can use vegetable oil, or if you're crazy, cooking spray (where's the fun in that?). I usually use about a quarter cup of batter for each pancake. I have no idea how many a batch makes, because I never make the same size batch. If you have pancakes leftover, you can wrap them up and put them in the ice box for the next day. I imagine they would freeze pretty well, too.
Devin likes to put maple syrup on his. That gives me the heebie jeebies. I eat mine with sour cream, or sometimes ketchup.
I basically tweak my buttermilk pancake recipe, which was given to me by Devin's mother. I start by nuking (normal people probably just call it microwaving) however much mashed potatoes I have leftover (or however much I want to dedicate to breakfast). This loosens them and makes them easier to mix with the other ingredients. I add 2 eggs, about a teaspoon of baking soda, a little salt, a little pepper and enough buttermilk to make it all soupy. Then the judgement call comes in. You have to add some flour or they won't come out right. But how much flour you add depends on lots of things. How humid is it? Is it raining? How much mashed potato did you use? How much buttermilk? See? It's not an exact science. I usually add enough flour to make it the consistency of thick pancake batter. After you do it once, you'll get it. Oh- and use plain all purpose flour NOT self rising.
My preferred method of cooking these is on my round cast iron griddle pan, but you can use a regular non stick skillet or an electric griddle. I use butter to fry mine, but you can use vegetable oil, or if you're crazy, cooking spray (where's the fun in that?). I usually use about a quarter cup of batter for each pancake. I have no idea how many a batch makes, because I never make the same size batch. If you have pancakes leftover, you can wrap them up and put them in the ice box for the next day. I imagine they would freeze pretty well, too.
Devin likes to put maple syrup on his. That gives me the heebie jeebies. I eat mine with sour cream, or sometimes ketchup.
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