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Tasty Mashed Potato Cakes
Potatoes of all kinds are a staple of many Thanksgiving meals, and of the American Cuisine in general. Mashed Potato Cakes have a delicious gourmet taste to them, and they are great accompaniments for a chicken or steak meal!
The average American eats 120 pounds of potatoes each year. That’s double the amount of the next largest consumed vegetable, lettuce. Potatoes are a huge success – mashed potatoes, potatoes casserole, baked potatoes, hash browns – and the super smash hit – fries!
Potatoes are also native to the American continent – which is all the more wonder? What in the world did people eat before the discovery of America – there were no tomatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, or corn until they were discovered in the new world! America certainly did seem fantastic the new world explorers.
Mashed Potato Cakes – Ingredients
- ¾ cup of chopped chicken
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 ¼ cups of leftover mashed potatoes.
- 1 cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- ¾ cup of flour
- 1 teaspoon of mustard powder
- 1 tablespoon chopped scallions
- 1 teaspoon garlic salt
- 1 egg beaten
- 4 tablespoons of vegetable oil for serving
- Sour cream
- Hot Sauce
- Fresh chopped herbs (parsley, chives, cilantro).
Mashed Potato Cakes – Directions
- In a large, heavy-bottom skillet over medium high heat, place the chicken and brown, stirring occasionally, until browned and crispy.
- Remove the chicken from the skillet, draining as much of the fat drippings as possible, and place on a paper towel.
- Remove all but about 1 tablespoon of the reserved chicken drippings and set aside to cool.
- Turn down the heat to medium, add the minced onion and cook, stirring frequently, until translucent and soft (about 10 minutes more). Remove the cooked onions and set them aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, place the leftover mashed potatoes and break them up, so they cover the bottom of the bowl evenly.
- Add the shredded cheese and flour blend, and mix to combine.
- Add the cooked onions and chicken, then the mustard powder, scallions, and garlic salt, and mix to combine.
- Add the egg and mix until moistened and fairly uniform in texture.
- Using a medium ice cream scoop or two large spoons, divide the mixture into 8 or 9 portions, about 3 tablespoons each. Roll each portion into a ball between your palms, and then pat back and forth until you’ve created a patty shape.
- Line a baking sheet with paper towels, place a wire rack on top, and set the baking sheet aside.
- Returning to the original skillet, add about two tablespoons of the vegetable oil and place over medium- high heat until the oil shimmers. Place as many of the shaped patties as will fit without any crowing in the hot oil.
- Fry for about 2 minutes or until golden brown on the underside. Flip the patties gently, and let finish frying until golden brown all over.
- Transfer the cooked patties from the pan to the prepared wire rack and baking sheet combo. Allow the cakes to drain briefly. Repeat with the remaining patties, adding the rest of the vegetable oil as necessary.
- Dollop each cake with a bit of sour cream, some hot sauce, and chopped herbs, and serve immediately.
Some History and Facts about the Potato
The potato /pəˈteɪtoʊ/ is a starchy food, a tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum and is a root vegetable native to the Americas. The plant is a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae.
Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile. The potato was originally believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans independently in multiple locations, but later genetic studies traced a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated there approximately 7,000–10,000 years ago, from a species in the S. brevicaule complex. In the Andes region of South America, where the species is indigenous, some close relatives of the potato are cultivated.
Potatoes were introduced to Europe from the Americas by the Spanish in the second half of the 16th century. Today they are a staple food in many parts of the world and an integral part of much of the world’s food supply. As of 2014, potatoes were the world’s fourth-largest food crop after maize (corn), wheat, and rice.
Following millennia of selective breeding, there are now over 5,000 different types of potatoes. Over 99% of potatoes presently cultivated worldwide descend from varieties that originated in the lowlands of south-central Chile. The importance of the potato as a food source and culinary ingredient varies by region and is still changing. It remains an essential crop in Europe, especially Northern and Eastern Europe, where per capita production is still the highest in the world, while the most rapid expansion in production during the 21st century was in southern and eastern Asia, with China and India leading the world production of 376 million tonnes (370,000,000 long tons; 414,000,000 short tons), as of 2021.
Like the tomato, the potato is a nightshade in the genus Solanum, and the vegetative and fruiting parts of the potato contain the toxin solanine which is dangerous for human consumption. Normal potato tubers that have been grown and stored properly produce glycoalkaloids in amounts small enough to be negligible for human health, but, if green sections of the plant (namely sprouts and skins) are exposed to light, the tuber can accumulate a high enough concentration of glycoalkaloids to affect human health.
To Learn About Growing Potatoes, Follow this Link…
Growing Potatoes: How to Plant & Harvest Potatoes | Garden Design