Potato Cake

Like a Potato Rosti or Hash Browns

Great with a traditional British Breakfast 

How many potatoes you do really depends on whether you are doing this as a small side for a full breakfast for a few, or as the main staple for one or two with an egg or a bit of bacon or a sausage instead of bread. One decent sized potato (what I would call a medium size for baking) will do this as a guide.

Grate the potato (I use Maris Pipers) and then squeeze the liquid out.

I just squeeze small amounts at a time and use my hand, but you can also put it in a (clean) tea-towel to squeeze. (But I reckon I'll be washing my hands anyway and I don't want bits of potato in my washer! You can use kitchen roll instead of a tea towel, but you may end up picking bits of paper out of your mix.) I would recommend squeezing it over a bowl, otherwise you can clog the sink up (to say nothing of losing half the potato down it if you try to do too much at once). The starch in the water is quite interesting for kids to play with later too

Put the potato in a bowl and sprinkle on a small pinch of salt and grind on some black pepper and mix it in (If you can see the pepper is well distributed, you can assume the salt is too).

Lightly oil a frying pan and then press the potato into the pan. Push it down firmly and go round the edges pushing them in and down.

Cook gently for about 5-10 mins (depending on how thick the potato layer is) pushing it down all over and in and down at the sides again a few times, until you can see no more raw potato on the top. Have a quick check underneath that that side has gone crispy, if it hasn't turn up the heat for a quick blast and keep pressing it down.

Turn over to crisp off the other side. This will only take a few minutes, as the potato is already cooked through. (If you have thicker layer, you might want to quickly turn it back over to the first side to give that another quick recrisp)

This is a basic potato cake, and while good as is, you can add any herbs, seasonings and fillings you fancy. Parsley and/or thyme is good, so is garlic, chillies and/or onion (onion does make it a bit wetter so takes slightly longer to cook and crisp) or chop in some cooked bacon, ham or gammon (probably won't need any salt)

You might also like:

Spicy Chicken Drumsticks

Mushroom Rice

Burgers

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Potato Wedges

Cut the potatoes (I usually use Maris Pipers, one or two per person, depending on size) into wedges (I cut each into eight: cut longways in half, then half and half again. Or maybe six if smaller, half then into three). Put in an oven tin, drizzle over a couple of teaspoons of oil then rub all the potato slices together to coat. Spread them in one layer and put them in the oven (about 200c/GM6) for about 45 mins. (If they overlap you will need to add about ten minutes, and give them a shuggle half way through)

I usually leave them for about half an hour, then check them. If they aren't yet cooked through (stab a thick one to make sure it's soft) and starting to go a bit crispy yet (depends on how thick the slices are and how packed the tin is), you might need to leave them in a bit longer, or turn the oven up a bit.


Use potato wedges with spicy chicken, in loaded skins or try with devilled sauce or barbecue ribs


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Bacon and Potato Soup

Quick, simple, cheap and tasty

This will serve four but it scales up and down easily according to how hungry you are, how many it has to feed and what you have to hand.

Bacon – how much is up to you, I would suggest at least a slice or a couple of rashers per person. Smoked bacon recommended. Chopping up part of a raw bacon/gammon joint into small pieces can be more economical and tasty than sliced bacon. Lardons work well. Pieces of leftover roast gammon or bacon is fine too, but doesn’t flavour it quite so well. Wiltshire cured bacon doesn’t seem to work particularly well though.

New potatoes – again, depends how filling a soup you want, about 1-2 per person. The more you add, unsurprisingly the chunkier or thicker the soup. You can use up cold ones, which is quicker to make but the flavour is much better if they go in raw, as they soak up the soup flavour.

Onion finely chopped – at least 1 medium or large, or a couple of small

Milk – about a pint.

Parsley – dried or fresh

Black pepper

Chop the bacon into bite size pieces and put in pan. Start off on a gentle heat to release some of the fat so no oil is needed. Cook for a couple of minutes stirring occasionally.

Add the onion and continue to cook until the onion is soft (about 2-3 minutes).

Add milk and chopped potatoes, and parsley and black pepper to taste. Heat and then simmer gently until potatoes are soft (about 10 minutes if raw used, depending on size of pieces) stirring occasionally. (If you like your soup thicker, bash the potatoes up a bit when stirring.)

(If using leftover gammon, start by softening onions in a little oil, then add it with the potatoes)

A handful of frozen sweetcorn can be added when it’s simmering if you want to include some veg.


Loaded skins


Mushroom Soup

Tomato Soup

Mushroom Rice

For more ideas, follow me on twitter @Tyne_Teas

Please visit my Intro post for more about my blog and me - I hope you enjoy my recipes : )