Leftover Mashed Potato Pancakes

Just for you, Diane, I know you were sick of looking at pickled garlic every time you checked my blog!

I swore I wasn't going to eat anymore wheat for a long while after the Thanksgiving holiday (I don't get along with grains) but I made chicken fried venison, gravy, and mashed potatoes (with cream cheese) for Wesley's birthday dinner last night and with all those leftover taters calling to us this morning, well, I couldn't resist. But no more after this morning! I hope. Maybe. We'll see.

I have wanted to make these since visiting a friend's mother up north several years ago. It was the morning after Christmas and my friend's daughter (a military trained electrical engineer pregnant with her first child) came out of her room demanding that her grandmother make her potato pancakes with the leftover mashed potatoes from the day before. I'd never heard of such a thing--but then I don't get out much. I don't remember tasting them (I think I was successfully abstaining from wheat back then) but I remember that they were gorgeous.

My first attempt was good, tasty, but a bit too thick and a slightly bland for my taste. The ingredients here are how I'll make them next time so they'll be a bit thinner and tastier than the pancakes shown in these photos.

Approximately 4 cups leftover mashed taters
3 green onions, minced (or shallots or onion or leeks)
1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon caraway seeds (optional, gives them a nice gourmet taste though--caraway seeds aren't for everyone but I liked what they did for these pancakes)
1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic or 1/4 to a 1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. salt (less if your taters are pretty salty to start with)
1/2 tsp. black pepper
handful of cheddar cheese (optional, use as much or as little as you like)
3/4's to 1 cup of flour (depending on how thick you want your pancakes--I'd go with 1 cup your first time out)
3 to 4 eggs (the more eggs and flour you use, the thicker the pancakes--mine held together really well with four eggs)

Thin with water if needed, but don't let the mixture get too thin. You shouldn't be able to pour it quite as easily as pancake batter but you can make them a lot thinner than these for "maximum crunchiness" as my friend Darbee says when talking about how her mother makes them.

Mix all ingredients with a mixer and your batter is ready. Now you'll need a little Crisco for frying them up--I tried doing them with Pam and they just didn't get crispity crunchity on the outside--so I did another batch with Crisco and YUM! You don't need a lot, just a few tablespoons in the pan or on the griddle. I tried butter as well but it burned before the pancakes were ready. Yup, it's gotta be Crisco or oil.

I served it up with the leftover gravy from the day before (made with stock, nom nom) and I was in heaven.

Migas--a Spanish, Portuguese, and Tex-Mex Breakfast

Migas are one of my favorite meals and definitely a favorite breakfast food. I love serving these to guests. My recipe was created in an attempt to duplicate my late mother's description of migas, which I never tasted because it was a recipe she discovered after I left home. But she talked about it a lot, it became one of her favorites. I think she just liked saying, "migas" to tell you the truth. So far as I can tell, my migas are a lot like hers. And no one has failed to clean their plates when I've made them. Hubby, who is rarely interested in breakfast, never turns down migas in the morning. My favorite way to serve these is with some homemade refried beans on the side (see previous entry). The beans and eggs go together like Forrest Gump and Bubba Blue.

I don't have a miga recipe, per se. Migas are one of those things you throw together according to taste and how many you are serving. We had migas for breakfast this morning, I had hoped to photograph them before I published the recipe here but, alas, my camera is still not functioning.

Basic ingredients:

Eggs (I used 7 today)
Chopped onions (I used about 1/4 cup)
Chopped and seeded serrano peppers (I used three, they weren't too hot for me but....)
corn chips (homemade or otherwise--I used too much this morning, according to hubby, but he still cleaned his plate)
grated cheddar or Monterrey jack (cheese is optional, a little cheese goes a long way in migas--I have no idea how much I used today)

Whip eggs for scrambling and set aside. Grate cheese and set aside. If using cheddar, don't use too awful much, it overpowers the dish. Sauté onions until soft but not opaque, add chopped peppers and sauté for a minute or two longer. Toss in a handful or three of tortilla chips and crush them just a bit with your spatula. I like a little egg with my chips, hubby likes his migas as an egg dish with a few chips in it. You'll have to figure out the ratio for your ownself. You will be pouring your whipped eggs into the pan right on top of the chips but right before you do this, add salt to your eggs and whip them in a bit more. Alton Brown says that adding salt to your eggs and then letting them sit does something unpleasant to raw eggs. I don't know if it's true, but I take his word for it and always wait until the last second.

I prefer the taste of the eggs when they've been salted during cooking but you may have a different opinion on this.

Scramble your eggs with the chips and vegetables until they are done to your liking. You don't have to break the chips up in tiny pieces, I rather like large pieces of chips in my migas. Don't overcook your eggs. They're done before they look done. The chips may still glisten a bit when you remove the pan from the heat, but don't fear. You aren't about to eat disgusting, undercooked eggs. The glistening chips will have turned a normal looking matte before you can even begin to eat. After you've removed the pan from the heat toss in the cheese and mix it in with eggs. It will be plenty melted by the time you put the eggs on a plate and serve. The melted cheese may give your eggs an underdone appearance, don't be fooled, it's just melted cheese. If the appearance bothers you, then in the future don't mix the cheese in with your eggs, just serve the cheese on top of the dish.

If you like, you can mix some sour cream and salsa verde together to drizzle over your eggs. I don't think they need it, but I always offer it to guests and some of them enjoy it.