Potato Cakes

Yesterday, after completing our last bit of gardening for the year, Kirk made a really delectable lunch from some odds and ends. Not that you could tell — it looks like a fancy-schmancy tapas plate:

These are two potato cakes garnished with some creamed spinach with carrot ribbons and turkey gravy. The kids were about to head out to the third performance of their Christmas play, and we wanted them to have a hot lunch to tide them over, but didn't want it to be too heavy. This was perfect.

It was also a perfect way to use up the inordinate amount of mashed potatoes and gravy we still had left over from Thanksgiving, so I highly recommend it any time your eyes are too big for your stomach in the mashed potato department (which is really just about every time, right?).

Potato Cakes

1 cup mashed potatoes

1 egg

1 tsp. baking powder

3/4 to 1 cup flour

Mix mashed potatoes, egg, and baking powder in a large bowl. Gradually add flour until the mixture feels like a workable dough. Press out onto a cutting board about 1/2 inch thick and cut into rounds with a glass. Sauté in a 50/50 mixture of butter and grape seed oil over medium heat until browned on one side, flip to finish.

Our mashed potatoes were already seasoned, but you could add parsley, garlic, salt, pepper, whatever.

Creamed Spinach

chopped spinach

garlic

heavy cream

salt and pepper

finely grated carrot

Chop spinach and cook on medium heat in a large, covered skillet with minced garlic. Once it's wilted, add cream, salt, and pepper to taste and stir. Before serving, add finely grated carrot — really finely grated, using the blades you'd use to for Parmesan over pasta. It's pretty and adds some sweetness.

Top this all off with some good, rich gravy (also leftover from Thanksgiving), and you're golden. It would be fine without gravy, but than I'd definitely add some salt to the potato cakes instead.