This is about the most basic potato cake recipe you can find.

Ingredients

2 cups chilled mashed potatoes (see Note)
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Method

Divide the mashed potatoes into 8 equal portions. Use your hands to form 1/2-inch thick patties.

Heat the oil with the butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking. Mix the flour with the salt and pepper in a pie plate. Coat the potato patties in the flour mixture. Add the potato cakes to the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook until they have formed a golden crust, 15 to 20 minutes. (Peek underneath using a spatula before turning.) Turn and cook the other side until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Season with additional salt and pepper and serve hot.

Results

This version of the recipe makes patties that don't stick all that well together at first. I wonder if that is because the recipe I used for the mashed potatoes is wetter than some other versions?

These came out adequately. Next time around I might try one of the more complex recipes that includes eggs.

Ingredients

• 2 pounds baking potatoes, peeled and quartered
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil. Add potatoes and cook until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes; drain.
2. In a small saucepan heat butter and milk over low heat until butter is melted. Using a potato masher or electric beater, slowly blend milk mixture into potatoes until smooth and creamy. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

This turned out great the first time.

Frankly, I've never pulled this dish off right. It's always been too watery. This recipe changed that.

Ingredients

• 4 cups thinly sliced potatoes, original recipe, deprecated
• 1.5 lbs thinly sliced potatoes
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 1⁄2 cups milk
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dash cayenne pepper
• 1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
• 1⁄2 cup grated cheese, to sprinkle on top
• paprika

Method

1. In a small sauce pan, melt butter and blend in flour. Let cook while stirring occasionally untiil the floury smell is replaced by a nutty smell.
2. Add cold milk bit by bit, stirring with a whisk bit by bit until it is all smooth.
3. Season with salt and cayenne. Cook sauce on low until smooth and boiling, stirring occasionally with a whisk.
4. Reduce heat and stir in cheese.
5. Place a half of the sliced potatoes in a lightly greased one quart casserole dish.
6. Pour half of cheese sauce over potatoes.
7. Repeat with second layer of potatoes and cheese sauce.
8. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top.
9. Top with some paprika for color.
10. Bake at 350° for an hour.

These turned out just about perfect the first time. I sliced the potatoes on a mandolin, which makes it really easy. I feel odd about the "four cups" direction. Hard to measure sliced potatoes in cups. I think I basically used two.

2017-05-03: I made these again this evening, Last time I think I only used three medium-sized potatoes, and this time I used four medium and large ones. The result was that some of the potatoes were cooked not quite enough. I should use three medium-sized ones again next time. I also sprinkled a bit of thyme on top of each layer of potatoes. Don't bother to do that again. The taste wasn't really all that complementary.

2017-05-06: I made these again this evening. This time I used 1.5 pounds of potatoes, which was four medium sized ones. This turned out well, with just a touch of resistance left in the potatoes. From now on, no more than 1.5 pounds.

Ingredients

• 1.5 pounds (about 5 medium) russet, Idaho, or other baking potatoes, scrubbed but unpeeled.
• Salt
• 2 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 pound (about 2 large) onions, thinly sliced
• 6 large eggs, hard boiled
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter at room temperature
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Sweet Hungarian paprika
• 2 cups sour cream

Method

1. Place the potatoes in a large pot and add enough cold water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a boil over high heat. Cook until potatoes are just tender, about 20 minutes. Drain and rinse under cold water until cool enough to handle. Peel potatoes and cut into 1/2 inch rounds.
2. Place a medium saute pan over mediu heat. Add vegetable oil and heat until shimmering. Add onions and saute until soft and almost caramelized, about 25 mintues. Lower leat if they begin to brown too quickly.
3. Peel the eggs and cut into 1/3 inch rounds.
4. Preheat the oven to 350°. Generously coat the inside of a 1 to 1.5 quart baking dish with the butter. Arrange a layer of half the potatoes in the dish, then a layer of half the onions, and then a layer of half the eggs. Season with salt and pepper and a light sprinkling of paprika. Spread with half the sour cream. Repeat with the remaining potatoes, onions and eggs, and season to taste with salt and pepper. Spread with the remaining sour cream and sprinkle with paprika.
5. Cover the baking dish and place in the center rack of the oven. Bake for 45 minutes.

(Mirror)

Results: kind of boring. Apparently they usually add kolbász (Hungarian sausage) to it in Hungary, and they usually don't use the onions.

I found the texture of the hard-boiled eggs off-putting in the recipe. If I make it again, I will shred the eggs on the large holes of a cheese grater.

Here's my simpler version.

Ingredients

• 1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
• 4 oz butter
• 1 clove of garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Method

1. Steam cauliflower until tender.
2. Put in bowl with other ingredients and puree with hand blender.

I'm recreating this from memory from the other day. I liked this. Slightly sweet, cauliflowery taste. Not a mock mashed potato recipe, but it's own thing.

Put them in the oven preheated to 400° for 40-60 minutes, depending on size.

Ingredients

• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 2 tbsp of butter
• 1 medium egg
• 1/2 tsp minced onion
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp pepper
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 2 more tbsp butter

I saw a recipe for cauliflower hashbrowns, which struck me as interesting, but I didn't have any cauliflower in the fridge, although I did have half a head of cabbage. Hm. How about cabbage hashbrowns?

It struck me that cabbage has a lot of extra water and air in it, which would probably need to be removed before combining with egg to make the patties. The first steps are to get rid of that extra moisture.

1. I removed the core of the cabbage half, then chopped it fine. I sliced the remaining cabbage into 1/4" - 1/2" slices. Poured the chopped core into a food processer and then processed each of the slices till all was chopped.
2. Then I put 2 tbsps of butter into a frying pan, and I fried the cabbage until it had barely started to brown.
3. Then I poured the cabbage into a colander to allow it to drain and cool. After all, we don't want the egg to cook instantly when it hits the cabbage.
4. After the cabbage had cooled, I combined it with the remaining ingredients. Divided it into two. I fried the first pattie in one tbsp of butter, and the second pattie in a second tbsp of butter.

Results: taste was fine. They fell apart pretty easily. I'm thinking I should try two eggs next time. If that works better, then I might also try not precooking the cabbage.

Ingredients

• 2 cups Cauliflower
• 1 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
• 1 tbsp chopped Shallots
• 1/2 cup Bouillon Vegetable Broth
• 2 tbsps Heavy Cream
• 2 tbsps Parsley
• 1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese (Grated)

Method

1. Pulse cauliflower florets in a food processor until they are the size of grains of rice.
2. In a skillet over medium heat cook shallots in the olive oil until tender.
3. Add cauliflower and toss to coat; add vegetable stock and cook until tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Add cream, chopped parsley and cheese.
5. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

2016-01-02: Today I tried this recipe for the first time. I will make it again. It's probably a mistake to call it risotto because it lacks the super-creamy texture of good risotto. I had never actually had really good risotto until last week, eating at Edible Canada on Granville Island in Vancouver. My niece had ordered a risotto dish, and it was awesome.

I dislike the "2 cups of cauliflower" direction. How much is that? Hard to say. I guesstimated and then weighed the result, which was 8 3/8 ounces. It was probably a touch too much. Nonetheless, the recipe turned out well tastewise. And I used chicken stock. Who the hell wants vegetarian bouillon?

Mirror

Ingredients

• 1/2 medium-size head of cabbage, chopped
• olive oil for braising
• about 1/2 cup of water, optional
• 1/4 tsp salt, or more to taste
• 1/4 pepper, or more to taste
• juice of one medium-size lemon

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1. Saute cabbage in olive oil over medium heat until soft.
2. If it is taking longer than you like, switch to high heat and add water. Cover the pan so it steams.
3. When soft, add salt and pepper. Add lemon juice and serve