Bacon and Potato Cakes

I recently acquired a cookbook entitled: The Complete Irish Pub Cookbook. I bought it partly because it was $5, the recipes looked well written and the pictures were alluring. So much so that I wanted to run home immediately and start cooking! It also stated on the back of the cover that the recipes had been tested. I decided it would be cool to start trying the recipes out of the book.

My newest addition to my cookbooks!

This blog is about the Bacon Potato Cakes that ESFSW and I paired with a salad and beer.

Here is what I used:

1 Extra Large Russet Potato
1/2 Leek (the white stalk)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1/4 butter
salt
white pepper
3 Tbsp whole milk
1 egg - beaten
8 Strips of Bacon (high quality thick cut bacon is the best!)

Most of what you need!

ESFSW was a great help and cooked the bacon while I worked on the potato cakes and salad.

He was trying to make a bacon fan

 The bacon will not get crispy if too much oil builds up in the pan pour it off. Be sure to reserve it because it can used as the oil to fry the potato cakes! If you rather not fry the bacon you can always bake it in the oven. You will need a cookie sheet and a grate is oven proof. Arrange the bacon on the grate and set the grate on the cookie sheet. Place in a 400 degree oven and let bake. Depending on the thickness of bacon it can take 15 to 30 minutes. The grate is essential to let the oil drip off the bacon as it cooks instead of having it boil in its own juices (ewwwww!). Some say baking bacon is sightly healthier because you don't get as much of the oil. I am rarely that concerned with the health factor since I believe it is more important to use real ingredients and cook yourself over buying overly processed, overly preserved, overly sugared pre-packaged foods. A little bacon every once in a while won't kill me!

Make sure it gets crispy!

Meanwhile I was working on the potato cakes. Wash and peel the potato (I usually keep the skin on the potato since I love potato skin and it contains a fair amount of vitamins as well, but in this case it had to go!). Cut the potato in to small cubes and put in a medium pot with a pinch of salt and cover with cold water. Bring the potatoes to a boil (about 15 to 20 minutes). Once potatoes are soft take of the heat and drain the water using a colander.

While the potatoes are boiling take the leek and chop it finely. You will also need to take two to three strips of cooked bacon and chop these finely. Set aside.

Potato and Chopped leek waiting with great anticipation to return to the pot!

In the same pot you just had melt 1/4 cup butter over medium/low heat. Be careful not to walk away from the butter it will burn if you leave it unattended too long. Once the butter is melted dump the potatoes and leeks in the pot.

Back to the pot!

 Using a masher start to mash the potatoes. If the mixture gets to thick add a little milk.

All mashed up

Once the potatoes are mashed well add the bacon, egg and 1/4 cup rolled oats. Add the rest of the milk and continue to mash to incorporate all the ingredients.

The Oats join the party!

They are ready to be fried!

The next couple steps unfortunately were not photo documented because my hands were covered with potato and flour and ESFSW was washing up some dishes.

Take the mashed up potato mixture off the heat. In a wide shallow bowl put a cup of flour and have a couple clean empty plates on hand. In the pan that you fried the bacon add a little more oil and heat (medium high) til water sizzles when it hits the pan.

Now with clean hands (any rings removed) - flour hands. Now reach into the pot with the potatoes and take a hand full. Shape the the potato into a palm size disc. Add more flour as necessary. Place the potato cake into the fry pan. Let cook for about 4 minutes each side or until each side is golden. 

Starting to fry the potato cakes

Almost done!

To stream line the process and so that you don't have to continually wash your hands I suggest shaping all of the potato mixture into little cakes staging them on plates til you are ready to fry them. Unless you have a huge fry pan or a really large griddle you'll have to fry them in batches. Add more oil as necessary. My mixture yielded ~12 little potato cakes. 

When they are done arrange the potato cakes on plates with the rest of the bacon.

It looks good!

Now to offset the fried nature of this mean it is best to pair it with a colorful salad! I really think you all can make your own salad, but I include this picture because it turned out so nicely! The salt in the background wasn't actually part of the salad!

All the pretty vegetables!

And here is our final product!

Doesn't it look Good!

The meal was a great success and is definitely worth making again. When looking over the recipe I thought the addition of oats to the potatoes had me a little skeptical. But when enjoying the finished product I couldn't even detect the oats! We had left over potato cakes which we divided between the two of us. They re-heated really well in the toaster oven with a little cheddar cheese on top with tomatoes.

I hope you enjoy them as much as we did!

Recipe:

1 to 2 large potatoes
10 bacon strips
1 Tbs butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp white pepper
1/2 leek (diced thinly)
1/4 cup rolled oats
1 egg - beaten
flour
milk

In a large pot, boil cubed potatoes and cook til tender. Drain well. Melt the butter in pot you just cooked the potatoes in. Mash the potatoes with the melted butter, salt and pepper and a little milk until creamy.

Cook the bacon til crispy. Remove from the pan and drain oil on paper towels. Take 2 to 3 strips and chop finely.

Add rolled oats, bacon, leeks and egg to the potatoes. Continue to mash to incorporate. With flour hands shape potato mixture into little cakes and fry - 4 minutes each side.

Serve with remaining bacon and a salad or other greens.