Wednesday, 9 July 2025

Potato Balls Ragout

Who doesn't love anything potato?  I've mentioned in previous posts that you can find over 4000 different varieties of potato in Peru, Bolivia and Ecuador.  Sounds brilliant to me.  Remember the purple potato craze some years ago?  Purple chips or mash?  Sure, why not? :=)  

This recipe is from A Distant Feast by Kiwi writer/historian Tony Simpson.  He tells us about the origins of New Zealand's cuisine, and provides lots of recipes including this one from Dr William Kitchener's The Cook's Oracle (1817).  Apparently, this was a best-seller back in the day!


yep, we ate these with sausage and salsa :)


Makes around 2 dozen:

ingredients:

900g./2 lb potatoes, boiled and well-mashed  see Notes

30g./2 Tbs butter   see Notes

1 cup/145g. ham + 1 mushroom or 1 cup mushrooms, finely chopped

1 large brown or red onion, finely chopped

2 large egg yolks

1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 dozen grinds black pepper

1/4-1/2 tsp ground nutmeg 

panko breadcrumbs (tho' the recipe says to use brown)

clarified butter, or a mix of oil and butter to fry - I started off with 3 Tbs olive oil and 3 Tbs butter, but used a fair bit more butter and oil as I went along


Method:

Well, cook up your spuds and mash 'em first off

Put all the ingredients except the breadcrumbs into a large bowl, and combine well

Roll this mixture into small balls and chuck 'em into your bowl or shallow tray of breadcrumbs, to coat 

Heat up your frying medium of butter and oil, and fry away till golden-brown, turning once - I gave them 5 minutes on each side

That's it for Dr Kitchener's instructions!  He says this dish is "an agreeable vegetable relish, to be served with meat."

So serve with a protein, or a salad, or whatever you fancy


Notes:

You need tender, well-done potatoes - so you boil them, or microwave or steam them till soft - then mash 'em with gusto

NZ tablespoons were/are the same as U.S. and U.K. spoons so 15g. per tablespoon

Obvs. if you are a vego., go with the mushrooms rather than ham 

(Just FYI, the mushroom killer's trial has ended, and they are weighing up the evidence before we get a verdict.)


ingredients gathered

mashed!

chop that onion

get ready to mix, and shape into balls

covered in panko, and ready to fry off

and get Mr P. to fry 'em

and turn 'em till golden

served with sausage and salsa :=)

It's a wee bit hilarious that Dr Kitchener calls this a ragout, isn't it?  When clearly they are potato fritters.  Goodness knows what he was thinking, trying to make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.  But they were fun to make, and pretty tasty.  Well, fry anything in butter and oil and you're set.  Deep-fried Mars bar anyone?


Rainbow Bob guarding his fritters


potatoes

baby potato says "Please don't eat me!"




brown onion
mushies


42 comments:

  1. I make these often but with cheese instead of ham. I've even made extra mashed potatoes for dinner just to have these the next day. I just call them potato fritters but I like the name.
    I read about the mushroom killer this morning. Very interesting.

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    1. sounds good Lori. Yes very odd name indeed!

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  2. These look so good. We always look for a new recipe with potatoes. Thank you for this one.

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  3. I love all potatoes so I know I would enjoy these balls - with ham please :) Ragout? Fritters - I always think of patties not balls for fritters...

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    1. yes such an odd name. Why on earth? ...

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  4. I don't :-)) and my husband only eats potatoes in fries form...the sausage looks great to me.

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    1. wow that's unusual Angie :=)

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  5. The potato balls look fantastic, Sherry — but I must admit I don’t see how they are a ragoût. Unless the word ragoût has a different meaning Down Under. I would love these for breakfast or dinner and I, too, would use panko — love the crunch! David (C&L)

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    1. well we are talking 200 years ago so who knows what he was thinking? Ragout is definitely a stew here.

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  6. Absolutely love everything about this from the historical roots to the cheeky ragout misnaming! 😄 Frying anything in butter and oil is always a win in my books too.

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    1. thanks Raymund. Yep odd name indeed.

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  7. We do love potatoes in any form and shape in our house :) These potato balls look absolutely delicious and inviting - I love the addition of ham. I would, however, slightly sautee onions and mushrooms just to bring up their flavours even more.

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    1. they are a global fave! Potatoes i mean. They were still good with the raw veg.

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  8. We do love potatoes in any form and shape in our house :) These potato balls look absolutely delicious and inviting - I love the addition of ham. I would, however, slightly sautee onions and mushrooms just to bring up their flavours even more.

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  9. I do love potatoes . Your recipe looks interesting. 4000 varieties in Peru- now that's quite amazing

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    1. thanks Judee. Yep that's alot of spuds!

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  10. I've never seen anything like this. And it looks so good as a meal on its own.
    Tandy (Lavender and Lime) https://tandysinclair.com

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  11. These look delicious. Bookmarking for fall or winter

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  12. yum! I’d love these with a green salad or tomato salad. Fabulous recipe!
    HTTP://www.chefmimiblog.com

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  13. That is a funny name (ragout) for sure, but they do look tasty! These remind me of latkes although latkes use shredded potatoes. Either way, it's amazing how many different ways you can cook and eat potatoes! This one certainly is worth trying. Although I did find the pinch of nutmeg in there to be a bit surprising. What did you think of that?

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    1. yep such an odd name for this! I can't remember now if the nutmeg gave much flavour.

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  14. I miss those purple potatoes so much; they were a huge favorite of mine. I love anything and anything with potato so the more variety the better. Your dish looks so yummy!!

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    1. purple fries were fun :) Thanks!

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  15. That looks quite good, Sherry. Really tasty and a bit like a latke but a patty, sort of. Yum.

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  16. Molto gustose le tue polpette, grazie della ricetta!!

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  17. Delicious! And I second eating these with sausage and salsa, Sherry! Absolutely nothing wrong with that at all in my eyes! Hope you are doing well!

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    1. thanks Neil. Yes all good. And you too, i hope :)

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  18. I've honestly never heard of either fritters or ragout! But it sounds delicious.

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    1. thanks Deb. Ragout just means stew in French :=) so goodness knows why he called this dish that!

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  19. I've never had a potato dish that I didn't like. Your potato balls look crispy and delicious. Karen (Back Road Journal)

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  20. Haha I would not have called this a ragout. Is it not a rissole? I know rissoles are usually more meat but I always think of ragout as a stew.

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    1. I know - so weird. Goodness knows what he was thinking when he called it ragout!

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