Potato cakes and cooking club #6
Potato cakes
It’s been said before and I will say it again but sometimes the simplest things in life are also the best… Last night was our 6th session of our cooking club, with the fancy name of Kookclubbie (maybe we should come up with another name??) and it was great fun again, good cooking, lots of laughter and some serious things in between as well. The group is still in the original shape as it was a year ago when we started. One person left due to other priorities but we’re still with 14 men/women. The menu yesterday was:
- potato cakes with creme fraiche and trout eggs
- Mushroom veloute
- Lemon spoom
- Dorad with ovendried tomatoes and tapenade
- Creme brulee with icecream
Ofcourse all those drinks are purely water or soda…:)
The menu was fairly laid back this time, so we had some time to catch up with the news after New Years. Our cooking sessions are only once every two months, so while we do see some of the people on a more regular basis, others we only see at the cooking club, so that means lots of things to talk about! Saskia and I were responsible for the potato cakes and truth be told, she did most of the work. Lol.. 
I think I whisked the eggs, does that count for anything? To make up for that lack of eh… cooking, I made the potato cakes again today for dinner. They were totally delicious and they fit well within a budget too. Yesterday we had these with trout eggs but since those are fairly expensive I left them out today and we spiced up the creme fraiche with spring onions, mustard and some chili pepper instead. Also totally delicious!
New Years, group hugs!
These cakes are easy to put together and we’re having them tonight with some fresh mackerel fillets (with an orange and harissa glaze) and pak choi that will be quickly stirfried in the wok. All in all in a delicious dinner that costs a little and goes a long way. And it’s also within the budget for Mona’s living leaner challenge!
Potato cakes
Yield: 12
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 40 mins
Ingredients:
- 500g potatoes
- 6 pieces egg
- salt
- pepper
- 250ml creme fraiche
- 6 pieces eggs (hardboiled)
- 1 spring onion
- 1 red chili
- 2 teaspoons mustard
Optional
- few teaspoons trout eggs
Directions:
| Peel and wash the potatoes and then grate them finely. Crack 6 eggs open and whisk together. Season with salt and pepper generously. Add the grated potatoes to the eggmix and stir everything together. Taste and add more salt and pepper if you want. If you do want to taste raw eggs, bake one cake and taste if it needs additional seasoning | |
| Boil the other 6 eggs till hard. Peel and keep yolks and whites separate, mashing them finely with a fork. | |
| Cut the spring onion and the chili pepper finely and stir through the creme fraiche together with the mustard. Add the trout eggs if you want. Since these are very salty, make sure you keep that into consideration when your seasoning your potatoes. Taste your creme fraiche mix and add seasoning where needed. | |
| Heat a frying pan on medium heat, add oil to the pan and with a spoon form little rounds of your potato-egg mixture. You can use a baking ring if you want or go freeform. Bake until golden brown, flip and bake the other side until done and transfer to a baking tray. | |
| Once all your potato cakes are done you can leave them on the baking tray until you're ready to eat. Heat them through in the oven and serve with the creme fraiche. Add the egg crumbles to your plate and - if using - you can also add some additional trout eggs too. | |
Note
At the cooking club we had these with the trout eggs, but at home I prepared them without since those eggs are fairly expensive. Instead of the eggs we added some mustard, spring onions and chili to the cream, which works just as well and makes it a vegetarian dish too!
Appetizer
Asian
Bread
Breakfast
Desserts & other sweets
Healthy
Bringing them to my breakfast table tomorrow! Your cooking club looks like a lot of fun place to be, Simone.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 8th, 2012 at 15:26
And it is a great fun place to go to Sanjeeta!
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It looks like so much fun, I wish we had a cooking group close to me like you have. I love these potato cakes, they look lovely, and I know they have a good flavor with the onion, chili and mustard. I agree sometimes the simple things are the best! Best wishes for the new year Simone.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 8th, 2012 at 15:27
Thanks Lyndsey and best wishes to you too! We didn’t have a cooking club close by either so we basically started one ourselves. It was a gamble to find the right people for the group but in the end it all worked out wonderfully.
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These look really good! Mackerel is one of my favourite fish, too. Can I have some, please?
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:12
Ofcourse you can dear! Just hop on over!
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It seems that you know how to have a lot of fun at your cooking club! ;-P
Those potato cakes look really appetizing and the clicks are wonderful!
Cheers,
Rosa
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:12
Thanks Rosa, yes we do tend to have a lot of fun, but we cook seriously too..;)
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What a fabulous cooking group Simone. Looks like SO much fun!! And those are stunning little potato cakes….I hope you had a wonderful New Year celebration and hope that 2012 is an awesome year for you xx
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:12
Thanks so much Colleen! I hope you have a fab 2012 too!
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this looks wonderful deliciously done
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:13
Thanks!
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I love potato pancakes, but I made them with smaller amount of eggs (about 2 per 1.2 kg of potatoes) and with small amount of flour 1.5 tablespoon. I love them without any extras, but in Poland people eat them with: sour cream and lemon juice or with mushroom sauce or with stew sauce or even with sugar or sugar and sour cream, so it’s very individual thing. And we eat them while they are still hot from a pan.
Anyway I’ve never hear about adding egg crumbles, but I like the idea
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:14
Yes you can eat them perfectly straight from the pan and I agree these are good on their own without any additions but what I love about them is that you can prepare them upfront and then just warm them in the oven…
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Magda's Cauldron — January 12th, 2012 at 10:14
Yep, that’s handy. I must try this trick while hosting some party
Simone,
These look fab. I think I will blog about potato cakes soon.
We do not make ours from raw potato but used leftover mashed.
And yes. The price is right. Potatoes are so inexpensive.
I love the photos you take at your Kookie Club events.
The smiling faces speak volumes. xx
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:14
Great idea to use leftover mash actually. Never thought about that!
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This cooking club sounds and looks like such a great experience, Simone! It’s nice to share your passions with others and have a good time together. I have a potato cake blog coming up next week as well, maybe it’s something in the air?;)
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:15
It must be something in the air for sure as I hear people talk about potato cakes everywhere!
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This blog post is engaging and you gave me some entertainment here! I’m glad to see that you are having a load of fun with your Kookie mates. I like your recipe price estimation here, it is interesting to see what all costs you in Holland.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:15
Yes I’m not sure how it compares to the rest of Europe but I have the feeling Holland is fairly expensive!
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What a great time! The potato cakes look great.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:16
Thanks so much Joy!
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Love potato cakes with creme fraiche and roe… bellinis, too… yummy! These look scrumptious!
V
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:16
O yes these would be really good with bellinis too and with so many other things now that I think about it..:)
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I love the photos with your cooking club (Kookieclubbers – very cute). So much fun cooking vwith a group of friends, new and old! Those potato cakes look magnificent, Simone! Kind of like a slightly thicker potato latke. I love the hard boiled egg and creme fraiche with them! Potatoes are the perfect meal for lean days $ wise. In fact..my father planted a sprouted potato from a bag from the market, and ended up digging up 2 lbs of potatoes about 6 months later! No need to get all fancy with buying ‘seed’ potatoes, just let one from the market sprout and you can make hundreds of these potato cakes! LOL
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:17
It’s actually a really good idea to just plant a potato in our garden or I’ve even hear people planting them in a bag or a pot. Our garden is small but we can do a pot!
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Great photos, as usual…that looks like so much fun!
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:17
Thanks so much Joan!
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What an interesting recipe I actually love potatoes and this is the perfect solution for fast and easy dinner. Thanks for that foody inspiration.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:18
It is perfect and I was surprised how easy it is to make these and how quick too!
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Well, it certainly looks as if everyone had a good time. What sort of *water* was it that they all drank, because I must get some for myself….
Unfortunately I don’t eat any fish or seafood, so Trout eggs do not appeal to me. I’ll just have the “plain” version of those delectable potato cakes, please.
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Simone (junglefrog) — January 11th, 2012 at 23:19
Too bad you don’t eat any fish or seafood Mark. Do you not like it or does it have dietary reasons? We have a girl in our cooking club who hates fish and to be honest with you, I used to be like that too. It’s funny how taste can change over the course of years!
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