Boxty

Boxty are traditional Irish potato pancakes. They were a creation borne of thriftiness in order to use up old potatoes and leftover mashed potatoes. This is the perfect scenario for making something delicious with the wilted, sprouted, forgotten potatoes in your pantry. You can use any kind of potatoes. We used russet for the grated potatoes and a Yukon gold for the mashed potato. We also used bread flour instead of all-purpose flour and they turned out great. So you can use whatever flour you have on hand. Most boxty recipes call for buttermilk but you can use regular milk. They also do not call for onion but we added onion powder to ours, which you can omit. You can serve these for breakfast with eggs, or as a side dish with stew, sausages, or meat.

1 cup grated raw potatoes, squeezed dry, packed
1 cup mashed potatoes
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon onion powder
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk (plain milk will work too)
Lard, clarified butter, or oil for frying

1. Mound the grated potatoes in a clean dish cloth and squeeze to remove excess liquid. Make sure you have a full cup after removing the liquid. Place the grated potatoes in a medium bowl along with the mashed potatoes. Add the eggs and buttermilk and mix it all together.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, baking powder, and onion powder in a small bowl and stir into the wet mixture. The batter will be thick.
3. Heat a heavy skillet over medium-low heat and add your choice of fat.
4. Add ¼ cupfuls of batter and spread out to about 3 ½ inches in diameter. Cook until nicely browned, about 2-3 minutes. Flip and cook the other sides. Makes about 14 boxty.