Guest Author - Mary Ellen Sweeney

Irish potato pancakes are wonderful as appetizers, a side dish, snack, or with a breakfast “fry-up” of rashers (Irish bacon), sausages, black pudding and white pudding, and soda or brown bread.

Many cultures that feature potatoes in their cuisine have a version of the Irish potato pancake. Certainly, the Jewish cook would put the latke up against the Irish potato pancake, and with no small amount of challenge, but it is the surrounding foods that add a certain extra delish to this dish.



Ingredients

1/2 lb. grated raw potatoes
1/2 lb. cooked mashed potato
1/2 lb. flour
¼ cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon chopped chive (optional)
1 tablespoon chopped parsley (optional)
1 egg
½ to 1 cup milk
butter or salad oil for frying
salt and pepper to taste

Technique

Mix grated and mashed potatoes with flour, onion, and seasonings.

Beat the egg and milk and work into the potatoes. If the batter is too thick, add milk until it is just loose enough to spread on the pan.

Heat and lightly grease the pan. Drop batter onto the pan by the tablespoon. Fry over medium heat until the pancakes are medium-brown on each side.

Serve with applesauce and/or sour cream.

Irish sausages, rashers, and black and white pudding make a delicious Irish breakfast. Don't forget to include some good butter and black currant or gooseberry jam or marmalade.

Set the table with a pretty cloth or placemats, flowers, and your best china and make a big pot of tea with sugar and milk and you'd think you were in Ireland.

The table is properly "set" for most meals in Ireland. People tend to sit down together and eat many meals as a family, especially on the weekends, when Saturday and Sunday "breakfast" appears almost any time during the day. Often there'll be company for breakfast and this could extend the meal into evening!