Love your leftovers: recipes for the resourceful cook, 336pp.
by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall
Bloomsbury Publishing, London, 2015
Cooking on page 132–33
Okay, I’ll confess. I love leftovers. After I moved away from home, I often returned to visit (don’t all kids?). About a minute after I walked in the door, my mother would say something like ‘there’s leftover mashed potatoes in the fridge’. I was in heaven.
So when I saw this book on offer for $5 at a going-out-of-business sale, I had to check out page 32, which had no recipe, and then 132. The required leftovers were mashed potatoes. I bought it.
Potato cakes
Ingredients
300–500g mashed potatoes or well-crushed roast potatoes
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1–2 tablespoons plain flour, plus extra for dusting
1–2 tablespoons whole milk
rapeseed or sunflower oil, for frying
salt and freshly ground black pepper
Method
In a bowl, mix together the potatoes, egg, flour and milk—the amount of milk you should add will depend on the amount of mash. It needs to be a fairly thick dough, so you may not need any milk at all, especially if the mash is quite soft to start with.
Season the mixture well with salt and pepper and stir in any extra ingredients that you would like to add (see tips and swaps, below).
Using lightly floured hands, form the mixture into potato cakes, about 2cm thick and 7cm in diameter.
You’ll need to cook the potato cakes in batches to avoid crowding the pan. Heat a thin film of oil in a large frying pan over a medium–high heat. Add 3 or 4 cakes and fry for 3–5 minutes each side, until crisp and golden brown.
Drain the potato cakes on kitchen paper and keep them warm in a low oven while you cook the rest.
Delicious with bacon and indeed any—or all—of your favourite breakfast components.
Tips and swaps
Add any of the following to the potato mix for extra flavour:
Herbs, such as chopped parsley, chives, soft thyme, lovage or chervil.
Sliced spring onions, finely diced shallots, or sautéed chopped onions and/or leeks.
A little finely chopped garlic.
Good pinch of English mustard powder.
Handful of grated cheese.
Some crumbled leftover cooked bacon, or even sausage, haggis or black pudding.
Or try a few bits of shredded ham.
How it played out
It pays to read the instructions before you start tossing in ingredients. The recipe clearly states that you might not need any milk. I’d already added it to 500 grams of mash when I realised that the dough was going to be on the runny side.
Never mind, I pressed on and added a lot of fresh herbs to the mix. I couldn’t really hand shape the cakes, so just scooped them into a large frying pan. It made three potato cakes that I served with green beans and chicken piccata.
Verdict
I love potatoes in all forms and these did not disappoint. I think I’ll regularly make extra mash so I have some to do these cakes. I’ll think twice before I add milk, but I’ll be sure to add even more of items suggested in the tips and swaps. Let me know if you try them.
Travel
We’ve encountered a lot of potatoes on our travels. Here’s a post that shows a new variety of potato we saw in the Amazon.
What's cooking on page 32 
That’s the right idea: make extra potatoes so you know you’ll have extra leftover for this yummy recipe~! I agree: potatoes are good! LOL!
Pays to plan ahead. 🙂
An alternative to use and not throw away what we have left in the kitchen. Exquisite cakes as long as they will come out as dictated by your recipe and as seen in the photos. Let’s try and not die trying. A good Sunday.
Thanks. I try not to waste food.
Two dishes from one fabulous vegetable. 👀🍃
What would we do without potatoes?
I would be very grumpy. lol 🤣
Me too!
Good idea Peggy, I like to use potatoes this way too 🙂
I’m making mashed potatoes to go with dinner tonight, so I’ll be sure to make extra.
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Sounds and looks yummy.
(If its anything like my herb & veggie omelettes, there would be more herbs that potatoes in those potato cakes).
I use a lot of herbs, but not quite that many.
My mom used to make these all the time but I’ve never had any luck with them. Yours look delicious!
Hope you can try these. Just go easy on the milk.
Thank you for the tip! 🙂
I think you’ll find them quite easy to make if the potato cakes aren’t too sloppy. Good luck.
Reblogged this on Crackling Pork Rinds.
Thanks so much. Most appreciated,
Dishes framed from leftovers are excellent. Although I wonder about the calories, not that I am counting them. Do these taste a bit like Rosti?
Very similar taste to rosti, without having to grate the potatoes. As for the calories, it would depend on how much butter you put in the mash to begin with.
And how much oil you use to fry it perhaps?
Ah yes, but the recipe says ‘a thin film of oil’.
Ah-hah, found it!! And I used to love my mother’s potato pancakes, but could never duplicate them – I will definitely try these!!
Just remember to go easy on the milk. I almost spoiled these by adding too much milk.
Thank you!
mmm. . . I love potato cakes. In spite of the problems you had with adding extra milk, the finished product looks absolutely wonderful.
This has become a regular. I now make extra mash so I can do this the next day.
I made Chanukah Potato Latkes today! That is, for this upcoming Chanukah holiday (Dec 2019) in which oil is often used for cooking various dishes. This P32 recipe is almost identical to the ingredients I used. That is, except I used two Yukon Potatoes and grated them. And I added chopped leeks (onions are often used) and no milk. The only suggestion is watch closely after flipping to cook the second side and that it does not burn (2 minutes should be good). The Latkes were very tasty and I ate them plain. However, some people will eat them with sour cream or apple sauce. Happy Noshing!
Oh wow, so glad you could make these in a version for Chanukah. Love the addition of leeks or onions, and see that the milk can easily be eliminated. Wishing you a very Happy Chanukah, which starts today.