Cheese and Mashed Potato Fritters

Monday 18 August 2014

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I have always been a "foodie."  I've always loved food, eating, recipes, etc.  When I was between the ages of 5 and 9, my best friend in the world was a girl named Susan Warburton.  



Here we are at the end of Grade one, we would have both been six years old.  She is on the far left and I am right beside her.  It was the awards ceremony at the end of the year.


Anyways, every Sunday night her mother would make potato pancakes for supper and they would have canteloupe melon with ice cream for dessert.  I would gobble down my supper at home and then race my bicycle over to her house so that her mother would take pity on me and invite me in for potato pancakes and canteloupe and ice cream.    I know . . . what a glutton.


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I love, LOVED those potato pancakes.   They weren't made of grated potato . . .  they were made from mashed potatoes and were all pancakey.   They were crisp on the outsides and soft on the insides and they were so delicious . . .  53 years later I am still thinking about them.

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I got to thinking about them the other day . . .  and salivating . . .  and I thought to myself, I am going to try to replicate them.   I cooked some potatoes and mashed them up and then let them cool down.   Into the cooled potatoes I stirred some flour, seasonings and chopped spring onions . . .  and cheese . . .  just because by then I was thinking that some cheese would be very good in these.  I was right.  It was.

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And cheese and onion are a fabulous flavour combination anyways.   I flattened balls of it into pancake shapes, coated them in flour and then fried them in some oil until they were crispy brown all over. . . .

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I served them . . .  hot and crisp . . .  topped with some sour cream and some more spring onions and for a little while I was six years old again and sitting at Susan Warburton's dining room table grinning from ear to ear because I had just tasted something fabulously delicious.   Every bit as good as the memory . . .  or maybe even better.  I was happy.  You will be too.   Make them.  TODAY!

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*Cheese and Mashed Potato Fritters*
Makes about 12
These are really easy to make and very tasty.  Kind of like a cheesy potato pancake.  The potato needs to be cooked ahead and chilled so plan accordingly.

3 large baking potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
120g of grated strong cheddar cheese (1 cup)
3 spring onions, trimmed and finely minced
1 medium free range egg, beaten
3 TBS plain flour (plus more for coating)
vegetable oil to fry
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
freshly grated nutmeg
To Serve:
Dairy Sour Cream
chopped spring onions  

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Place the potatoes into a pot of lightly salted water to cover.   Bring to the boil.  Cook until tender.   Drain well and then return them to the pot, shaking them over the residual heat of the burner to dry them out well.  Mash them well or put them through a potato ricer.   Scrape them into a bowl and set aside to cool.   Once cool, cover and chill in the refrigerator until really cold, preferably overnight.
When you are ready to cook them, stir together the cooked potato, the grated cheddar, spring onions, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste and beaten egg.   You may not need all of the egg.  You just want a mixture which will hold together well without being gloopy.  Divide the mixture into 12 equal portions.  Roll each into a ball.  Flatten into a pancake shape about 1/2 inch thick.   Coat each fritter well in plain flour.

Heat several tablespoons of vegetable oil in a large shallow frying pan.  Add the potato fritters a few at a time, cooking them on one side until they are crisp and brown before flipping them over to the other side and browning them on that side too.  Remove to a paper towel lined baking sheet.  Keep any cooked ones warm in a slow oven  until you finish cooking them all.   
Serve hot with some sour cream and additional chopped spring onions.   Delicious!

15 comments

  1. I remember that cute pic!!:)
    They look good Marie..have you had problems that you had to add a robot thingy?

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  2. I just finished eating breakfast but these made me feel hungry all over again. Looks so good! xo

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  3. What is a robot thingie Monique? I am not sure what you mean. I did change the settings for comments so that only certain people can comment. I had someone attach a virus to my page and so I have had to do a few changes. I got rid of most of the links and changed some settings. It's really annoying! I have also truncated my blog so that recipe skimming pages can't come and skim my recipes, text and photos. There are some despicable people about! xxoo

    Valerie, these were almost TOO good! lol xxoo

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  4. How cute you look in your school picture! I too make potato pancakes, but had never thought of adding cheese.I will certainly try that next time.

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  5. I had some cold potato leftover from when I made potato skins last week so my husband requested these! His verdict is that they're delicious!

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  6. Thank you Phylis, I hope that you like them!

    SO happy you enjoyed these Victoria! Yay!

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  7. Hi this is my first comment to your blog but I have been reading for years. I really enjoy your recipies. I'm from Northern Ireland and much of the cuisine is similar to England but we have about three times the variety of bread products- we really really love home bakery fresh breads. My friend's mum made these for me when I was little too. I like to roll mine in flour, then egg then I some cornmeal for a really crispy coating-yum.

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  8. Emma! Thank you so much for finally taking the time to comment! I love it when that happens! I hope to visit Ireland one day. It is on my bucket list and not the least because of the bread! The idea of cornmeal sounds very tasty! xx

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  9. Hi Marie,

    Your delicious recipe has been nominated as one of the "Top 100 Best Potato Fritters Recipes on the Internet". You can view it and vote for it here: http://potato-recipes.org/best-potato-recipes/best-potato-fritters-recipes-internet/ (position #18).

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  10. Hi, love this post I've included a link back in our Best in Food Blogging this Week post over on our website, I think our viewers will really enjoy it. Here's a link if you want to check it out https://www.corrchilled.co.uk/index.php?route=pavblog/blog&id=107

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  11. Thank you Corr Chilled! I hope they do!

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  12. I wish we could put these on pinterest. I dont see a pin button. Does anyone know how to do it?

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    1. Karen, there is a pin it button in the left hand corner of every photo which shows up when you brush your mouse across it. xo

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  13. I wonder if your friend would be in my family tree. It isn't a very common name, and I know some family members went to North America, or possibly Canada. It might be fun for me to check!

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    1. So are you a Warburton Karen? How fascinating! xoxo

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