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 |
No comments:
Post a Comment
I would love to hear from you. Please leave your comment and I will reply as soon as I can. If you have problems commenting, please try without your WordPress profile. You can try Anonymous (add your name in the text) or your Google account if you have one.