Saturday, December 6, 2008

Cleaning out the T'Day Leftovers

This is not the usual Turkey soup or stuffing casserole use of the Thanksgiving leftovers post. I bagged most of the leftovers and tossed them in the freezer - Greg will enjoy a small Thanksgiving feast again one busy night during the holidays, and I'll be glad I froze it!
One thing I didn't freeze was the leftover mashed potatoes. I just don't like the texture of them when they're thawed. So we ate them a few times last week, but I put a different twist on the last couple of servings.
I remembered when I was a kid and stayed with Grandma Regier over the Christmas break from school. She always had leftover mashed potatoes from our big family dinner, and would make them into potato pancakes for breakfast. So that's what I did, only these were a side for our supper of baked steak one night, then breakfast-for-supper the next.
They're pretty simple - just mix a raw egg into your potatoes, then plop them into a hot skillet with a little oil. They take several minutes to crisp up enough to be able to turn them. Just wait for it. If you try to flip them too soon, your pancake will fall apart. Then cook them several minutes on the other side. You want them nice and crispy.
For a little flavor, I added some roasted garlic to the potatoes and then garnished them with green onion the first night. The second night I just went ahead and stirred the green onion into the potatoes before I cooked them.
Now lest you think I tortured Greg by serving these two nights in a row, he actually asked to have them again. :o)