Irish Boxty Potato Cakes

You didn’t think I would let a St. Patty’s day pass me by without making a potato item, now did you? This is an item I have come across many times on several  different blogs, but the one that caught my eye was on a blog called armida cooks.  The recipe looked easy enough and unlike some others that I had found, they kept their shape, were easy to handle and made a nicer presentation. 

On this St. Patty’s day, some friends came over for a late breakfast and we planned a full day of fun, so a hearty breakfast was something we all wanted. I had been talking about making everyone a traditional Irish breakfast and followed through on my promise, and you guessed it, these beautiful little potato gems were definitely on the menu. I modified the recipe a little and used yogurt instead of milk, and they were still absolutely delicious. I also used a little onion powder along with some Dubliner cheese. You can omit the cheese if you don’t have some on hand, and you can use chives instead of the onion powder if you prefer a little more pronounced onion flavor.

I served them with eggs, some Irish bacon and sausages, beans in tomato sauce, fried tomatoes and mushrooms along with some delicious brown bread. You definitely don’t have to wait until next year to try these…they would be magnificent with some smoked salmon, caviar and sour cream.

Irish Boxty Potato Cakes (makes 6-3″ potato cakes)

1 cup shredded potato, squeeze out water

1 cup mashed potato

1 Tablespoon butter

2 Tablespoon grated Dubliner cheese **optional

1 cup flour

1 large egg

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 teaspoons salt

½ teaspoon pepper

2 teaspoon onion powder

2 Tablespoons low fat yogurt (or 4-6 Tablespoons of milk)

4 Tablespoons water

¼- ½ cup olive oil

I did not have any mashed potatoes on hand, so I peeled, cut and steamed 1 large potato, then mashed it and added the butter to it. I placed all of the ingredients into a medium sized mixing bowl, and then lastly added the shredded potato. Make sure to squeeze out as much water as possible from the shredded potato, so that the final mixture is not ‘soupy’…it should be quite firm.

Heat about ¼ cup olive oil in a large frying pan and then use a 3” round cookie cutter to mold the potato cakes, it takes about 2 tablespoons of batter to fill this size mold. Cook for about 3-5 minutes until golden brown on one side and then flip. Add a little more salt as they come out of the frying pan and serve warm.