Category: Side dishes

Potato Pancakes

Jerri likes potato pancakes and often chooses them when they are on the menu. I enjoy them once in a while, but I think that I had enough potato pancakes when I was growing up to last a lifetime. They are not high on my list of favorite foods.

When I queried my sisters about Mom’s potato pancakes, replies ranged from “Ugh, we had them all the time” to “You know Dad planted lots of potatoes, so we ate lots of potatoes. Better than just all boiled spuds.” The most useful reply included some information about how Mom made her potato pancakes: “I remember that she used eggs and flour to make them stick together. Pretty good.” Not exactly enthusiastic reviews, but they show a certain acceptance of a staple food that north country families ate when we were growing up.

Potato pancakes are very popular in Austria and Germany. When we ate them on our travels last fall, I tasted something besides salt and pepper mixed with the potatoes. Those pancakes were delicious so I started researching potato pancake recipes.

There are lots of them. Many start with mashed potatoes, others with grated potatoes. Some include garlic, green onions or parsley. A few call for cheese, flour and baking powder or even biscuit mix. One that especially intrigued me was a Chinese potato pancake made with sweet potato starch and flavored with a little black pepper and Chinese five spice powder.

Some time ago one of our nieces mentioned that her husband really likes potato pancakes but had not yet found a recipe he was satisfied with when he made them at home. She wondered if I had a good recipe, so I started looking in earnest.

I couldn’t find one that tastes exactly like the ones we ate in Germany, but I did find a recipe for German potato pancakes that listed nutmeg in the ingredients. Following Mom’s lead, I used both flour and egg to bind the grated potatoes together and added a little nutmeg for a more complex flavor. We like them this way and think that the nutmeg makes these potato pancakes especially good with applesauce.

Potato pancakes are a great side dish to eat with bratwurst, braised pork chops or ham steak. They are good with fried fish too. That’s why almost every good fish fry in Wisconsin offers potato pancakes with applesauce as a choice of potato on Friday nights.

INGREDIENTS:

2 or 3 medium russet potatoes (a generous pound)
1/2 medium onion (2 1/2 to 3 inch diameter)
3/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg (scant)
1 T all-purpose flour
1 large egg
Vegetable oil for frying

PROCEDURE:

Peel and grate the potatoes into a bowl. Transfer the grated potatoes to a clean tea towel and squeeze into a bowl as much liquid as you can from the potatoes. If there is any liquid in the bowl let it stand a few minutes while you grate the onion, then pour off the water and leave the potato starch in the bottom.

Return the potatoes to the bowl, add the onion, salt, pepper and nutmeg and sprinkle the flour over the potatoes. Mix everything together, then beat the egg until it is lemon yellow and stir it into the potatoes.

Pour about an eighth inch of oil into a heavy skillet and set it over medium heat. When the oil is hot, spoon quarter to half cup mounds of the mixture into the pan. Press the mounds to about a half inch thick with the spoon or a spatula.

Fry the cakes about four minutes, then turn them and continue frying until they are golden brown on each side. Unlike batter pancakes, you can safely turn potato pancakes a couple of times without making them tough.

Set them to drain on paper towels on a warm plate. Serve with applesauce on the side.

NOTES: Be sure to use russet potatoes because they have more starch than the thin-skinned varieties like Yukon Golds or red potatoes. Some potatoes have more liquid than others. The last time I made potato pancakes, the towel became damp but only a half dozen drops of liquid ended up the in bowl. On other occasions, I have poured off a half cup of water.

If you wonder whether the oil is hot enough, drop a little potato mixture into the pan. If it starts sizzling right away, your oil is ready. Spoon more mixture over the test potatoes. You may have a slightly darker spot on that pancake, but all will be well.

It is difficult to judge exactly how much salt you need. If you prefer foods with a definite taste of salt, use a little more.

Plain Rice Pilaf

In “Vol. II Treasured Recipes–from the Kitchens of Members and Friends of the Hayward Women’s Golf Club,” Marge Gogian suggested that the shish kebab grilled by George the Turk should be served with rice pilaf. She did not give a recipe for the pilaf, but it was probably similar to what I call The Turk’s Pilaf, a plain side dish designed to enhance rather than compete with the entrée.

The Turk’s Pilaf is made with bulgur or cracked wheat simmered in broth and seasoned only with salt and pepper. Plain rice pilaf is made in much the same way, though in its simplest version, the rice is cooked in water rather than broth.

Here is a simple rice pilaf recipe. It makes four generous servings of a flavorful side dish that goes well with shish kebab, steak, grilled chicken or salmon.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup long grain white rice
1 T butter
3 T olive oil
2 cups chicken broth
1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper
1/4 tsp. salt

PROCEDURE:

Rinse the rice well in cold water and allow it to drain thoroughly in a colander. Melt the butter and olive oil in a heavy-bottom covered saucepan or a skillet with a tight-fitting lid. Heat the broth until it is nearly boiling.

Put the rice into the pan and raise the heat to moderately high. Sauté the rice, stirring constantly, for three or four minutes until it just begins to turn gold. Reduce the heat and carefully stir in the hot broth.

Stir in the salt and pepper and reduce the heat to low. Cover and simmer the rice until it has absorbed all the broth, usually fifteen to twenty minutes. You can check how the rice is doing, but DO NOT STIR the rice. When the rice is nearly done, you will see little holes in the rice made by steam escaping from the bottom of the pan and you can gently tip the pan to see if all the broth has been absorbed.

Remove the pan from the heat, take the lid off and stretch a dry tea towel over the pan. Replace the lid and let the pilaf rest for five to ten minutes. Then fluff it with a fork and serve.

NOTES: If you want to be fancy, garnish the rice with toasted slivered almonds, pine nuts or chopped mint leaves.

The grains of rice should not stick together. Stirring the rice while it is cooking releases starch that glues the rice together as does the steam that condenses once you remove the pan from the heat. The towel keeps water from dripping onto the rice as the steam condenses on the lid. So don’t stir and use the towel.

George the Turk was known for telling everyone “Don’t worry ‘bout.” I used to think that he used the expression only as his way of making guests feel welcome until I bussed tables at the Turk’s Inn one New Year’s Eve.

As you would expect, it was busy. George was everywhere—greeting guests at the door, ushering them into the Harem Lounge where three bartenders labored to keep up with the orders, circulating among the tables in the Sultan and Kismet Rooms, trotting up the stairs from the basement with pans full of steaks or other items from the coolers, and running through the kitchen to make sure that everything was under control. Even the busboy and the dishwasher got the same good advice.

Keep it in mind when you are making pilaf. Even if it’s not perfect, it will taste just fine, so “Don’t worry ‘bout!”