Potato cakes
I had bacon with them, naturally. And a poached egg. Oh and mushrooms. There’s no point messing about when it comes to brunch.
Somehow, I did not know about potato cakes. I think I’m in love. Their fluffy texture, almost like that of a thick pancake, sends them rocketing up the comfort food scale only pausing briefly to turn back and stick two fingers up to toast. They are perfect slabs of doughy carb, ready and willing to soak up the runny yolk from a just-poached egg. Top and bottom are burnished golden and crisp, like a bubble and squeak.
This recipe is from king of dough Dan Lepard; he adds parsley which brings a nice savoury note. I push it a little further with some finely chopped spring onion. We ate the first wedges as above. The rest I ate very shortly afterwards (about 30 seconds), straight from the pan with my hands.
They’re dead easy to make, too. You have to cook a couple of spuds but then it’s just mix your wet ingredients, mix your dry ingredients, combine them, slop into the pan and cook. I reckon it’s even do-able with a hangover.
Potato cakes with parsley and spring onion (adapted only slightly from The Handmade Loaf by Dan Lepard)
125g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 medium egg
100ml milk, at 20C (I just heated mine briefly in a pan until it was warm and it was fine)
60g unsalted butter, at room temperature
250g potatoes, cooked and mashed
4 spring onions finely, chopped (white and green parts)
2 tablespoons parsley, finely chopped
Mix the flour, soda and salt in a large bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix it into the flour with your fingers until the lumps are gone.
In a separate bowl, mix the mashed potato with the egg then beat in the milk, parsley and spring onion. Combine the egg and potato mix with the flour and butter mix and combine well into a sticky dough. Heat a large frying pan or skillet (I used the latter) then melt 1 tablespoon of dripping or vegetable oil in the pan. Make sure it coats the whole base of the pan. Scrape the dough into the pan and then do your best to spread it out a bit into a circle.
Leave to cook for 4-5 minutes, ideally with a lid on. When the base is crisp and lightly golden, loosen the edges with a spatula. Take a very well-oiled plate (that’s important, don’t be shy with the oil) and flip the cake out of the pan and on to it. You can then slide the cake back into the pan to cook the other side. This is why you need to oil the plate well – if you don’t the uncooked doughy side will stick to it. Cook for a further 4-5 minutes then either turn it out or cut wedges from the pan. I recommend bacon, mushrooms and a poached egg as accompaniments. I’m not going to get into a debate about sauce.
Category: Breakfast, Brunch, Cakes | Tags: breakfast, Brunch, dan lepard, parsley potato cake recipe, potato cake recipe, potato cakes 26 comments »
December 14th, 2010 at 8:45 am
I’m possibly more impressed with your neat little poached eggs than the potato cakes!
December 14th, 2010 at 9:25 am
What a coincidence, I made potato cakes at the weekend to blog. Mine were the spud, flour and butter kind though, a little less elaborate than these.
They look very tasty.
December 14th, 2010 at 9:42 am
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by mmelindor, Dan Lepard. Dan Lepard said: Those potato cakes look brilliant, wow RT @foodstories: I am making potato cakes AGAIN. Third meal in a row… http://ow.ly/3oMyw [...]
December 14th, 2010 at 9:56 am
LOOK AT THAT DRIBBLY EGG!
I’ve tried to make these before and they turned into a huge stodgy mess – this recipe looks far better.
December 14th, 2010 at 10:26 am
Ooooh, these look lovely. Don’t think I’ve tried them before. Potato cakes to me are just leftover mash formed into patties and fried. Are they like very thick Scottish tattie scones, I wonder?
You’ve got me hungry.
December 14th, 2010 at 11:35 am
At our local British shop they have both potato scones and potato cakes in the freezer. The cakes are thicker of course but not nearly as delicious as these made at home.
December 14th, 2010 at 12:01 pm
These look magnificient. I usually just do potato bread because it’s even easier, but I think you’ve inspired me to do this for Boxing Day brunch. But with fried eggs because I’m poaching challenged…
December 14th, 2010 at 12:16 pm
Ooooh yum! Gooey egg, salty bacon and savoury potato cake. This hits the spot Helen. I’ll be happy for you to cook this for me any day:)
December 14th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
I believe in Northern Ireland potato cakes are known as ‘fadge’…
December 14th, 2010 at 1:47 pm
Yep – http://www.ulsterheritage.com/recipes/fadge.htm
December 14th, 2010 at 5:43 pm
That poached egg is pure gastro porn! Fantastic to eat as the carbs will soak up the runny yolk. Yummy.
December 14th, 2010 at 9:44 pm
Helen, love the potato cake but I’m joining chorus of approval on the poached egg, looks bloody lovely.
December 15th, 2010 at 12:17 am
Yum. Ditto the other comments on the egg. And I like your plate. The end.
December 15th, 2010 at 12:34 am
p.s. think there’s a bit missing in the method part about combining the dough and the spuds before chucking into the pan. The end (really, this time).
December 15th, 2010 at 7:09 am
Made it this morning with leftover mash. Lovely, and my 15-month-old son stole most of my first slice!
December 15th, 2010 at 9:24 am
Erin – thanks! I am rather proud of my poached eggs in general, I have to say.
Joshua – GREAT MINDS!
Mabs – it’s a corker of a recipe. I am in awe of Dan lepard.
Wendy – yeah, they are basically a potato scone, so guess the name is a bit misleading.
bellini – nowt beats home made does it
miss south – conquer the poached egg! you know you want to
Maunika – I would be happy to cook it for you my dear
Rambo – FADGE! What an awesome name. That’s up there with ‘Penge’
Robert – bingo!
Food Urchin – ha ha, thank you
ed – that plate is from Khan’s in Peckham if you want your own. £2.99 I believe. Thank you for pointing out the missing bit in the method, I’ve added it in.
Erin – Brilliant! I am very happy to hear your son liked them.
December 15th, 2010 at 10:53 am
how very delicious – the addition of spring onion=inspired
December 15th, 2010 at 12:15 pm
Spring onion? You little devil!
December 16th, 2010 at 10:17 am
Look soooo good in those pictures. Think it needs some brown sauce though.
*braces for abuse*
December 16th, 2010 at 10:24 am
James – Ta
Chris – I ate them with brown sauce
December 16th, 2010 at 5:02 pm
Definitely a beautiful brunch!
December 19th, 2010 at 11:13 am
Had just been wondering about what to do for brunch this cold Sunday morning … thank you!
December 19th, 2010 at 1:53 pm
mmmmmm delish! I made rosti recently, but this is definitely next in line to try! What a provocative looking poached egg…
December 21st, 2010 at 4:10 pm
This looks like a hell of a dish. The poached eggs look really good. I always mess up badly when I try to make them.
December 22nd, 2010 at 3:24 am
carb fantasy. x shayma
January 10th, 2011 at 11:39 pm
[...] are a Dan Lepard recipe that I got via Food Stories. They look fairly unassuming, but they are soo tasty, the perfect brunch food and dead easy to [...]