Quick and Easy Mashed Potato Pancakes

Last year Isla was a newborn for St. Patrick's Day, so I didn't cook and we didn't celebrate. Now that she's a toddler I wanted to have some fun and cook the traditional Irish-American corned beef and cabbage with a couple sides. This resulted in too many mashed potatoes for a family of three. I like to make leftovers a little different the next day, and these potato pancakes were a fun way of changing up the meal from the previous night. Best part is you can fry a bunch up, then reheat the leftovers the next morning with scrambled eggs. Yum!

Mashed Potato Pancakes

      makes 20 

• 3 cups mashed potatoes
• 1 Large Egg, beaten
• 2/3 cup to 1 cup Shredded Cheese, I used a Mexican blend
• 2 Tbsp grated Onion, or you could use 1/4 cup chopped green onions
• 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour, plus more for dredging 
• salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste (optional)
• Vegetable Oil for frying

If you're using grated white onion, use a box grater then squeeze in a tea towel to drain the excess moisture. In a mixing bowl add in the egg, grated onion, mashed potatoes, shredded cheese, and 1/4 cup of flour. Then you can season to taste. I actually just added in everything, seasoned a bit, then fried one up to see how it tasted. It was great, and I decided that when they were cooked I would sprinkle with a bit of extra sea salt. In a large non-stick skillet over medium heat add enough vegetable oil to coat the bottom of the pan evenly. Take a spoon and scoop about three tablespoons of the mix into your hand. Form it gently into a ball (does not have to be perfect) then dredge in flour. I did this on a paper plate using just a couple tablespoons of flour at a time. Pat back and forth between your hands to form a patty. This should be lightly floured. Continue to form your patties. I found it easiest to start frying some, form the pancakes while the first side cooked, flip them, then continue to form until you've used up the mixture. 

It only takes 2-3 minutes per side to cook, really depends on your stove. I found the last batch really only needed two minutes per side so they wouldn't get too brown. You want a nice brown crust, not too dark but not so light that these are soggy. They should be crunchy on the outside and soft and cheesy on the inside! I served mine up with leftover corned beef, cabbage, and carrots. 

The calories vary greatly depending on how you prepare your mashed potatoes. I use garlic and parsley butter and whole milk. It will also vary depending on how much oil you use. I used enough to crisp up the pancakes. I hardly used any on the first batch and I didn't dredge them in flour. They were really mushy, still tasty. Second batch I dredged in flour but didn't use enough oil to fry, so they were a little dry and tough. Next attempt was perfect. Dredged in flour with enough oil to really crisp them up! These will absorb some of the oil, so I factored in 1 tsp of vegetable oil for each batch of four pancakes. So 5 teaspoons in all, or 1 and 2/3 tablespoons.

For 1 pancake you're looking at about 58 calories, 5 grams net carbs, 2 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fat.