Kale and potato cakes, a recipe by Ronni Lundy.
Leftover mashed potatoes were often the base for potato cakes at our next meal. My mother seasoned hers with onion chipped small and plenty of pepper, but I like to add other ingredients for a hearty main dish. And I like these so much that I don’t wait for leftovers, but make them from scratch. Serve them with Old-School Tomato Gravy.
Kale Potato Cakes
Serves 6
You Will Need
- 3 pounds russet or Yukon Gold potatoes
- Salt
- 1 1⁄2 pounds kale
- Olive oil
- 3 whole green onions, finely chopped
- 5 ounces Asiago cheese, shredded
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 4 eggs, beaten
- Old-School Tomato Gravy, for serving
To Prepare
1) Peel the potatoes, quarter them, and place them in a large saucepan. Cover with cold water, add a teaspoon of salt, place over high heat, and bring to a boil. Then turn the heat down to a lively simmer and cook until potatoes are tender, 15 to 20 minutes.
2) While the potatoes are boiling, rinse the kale well, remove the stems, and coarsely chop the leaves. Heat about a tablespoon of olive oil in a wide heavy skillet and add the kale, a few handfuls at a time, with a couple pinches of salt. Saut. until just wilted. I like the kale al dente, with a little resiliency, but you may prefer to cook it to a softer stage. When the potatoes are done, remove the pot from the heat and drain them. In a large sturdy bowl, mash the potatoes until they have a creamy consistency (a few small lumps allowed).
3) Combine the kale with the potatoes. Add the green onions and the cheese. Taste the mixture and add salt as needed (Asiago can be very salty and additional salt may not be desired). Add pepper to taste. Add the eggs and mix thoroughly. Pat the potato-kale mixture into cakes approximately 3 inches in diameter and about 1⁄2-inch thick.
4) Preheat the oven to warm.
5) Pour olive oil into a heavy skillet until about 1⁄4-inch deep and place it over medium heat. When a bit of the potato mixture flicked into the skillet dances, add 3 or 4 patties (don’t crowd the skillet). Fry, turning the patties over when they are crisp and golden, cooking them for about 3 minutes a side. Be careful, adjusting the heat to keep them from burning and adding oil when necessary. When they are golden on both sides, transfer them to a rack lined with paper towels to drain. Then keep them warm in the oven while you fry the remaining patties.
6) Warm the tomato gravy and pass on the side with the warm kale potato cakes.
Old-School Tomato Gravy
Ketchup delivers sweet-tart-spicy complexity to the table. But Tomato Gravy is a quick winter fix intended to remind you of the sharp tang of the summer garden. As such it’s a pretty simple affair, mingling the smoky fat of bacon (or olive oil, if you prefer) with the robust burst of brightness in a can of homegrown tomatoes.
I confess, I don’t can tomatoes. I like to use Muir Glen Organic Fire Roasted Tomatoes in this and other recipes for the extra dimension that the roasting seems to give them, although any good-quality canned tomato will do. If you are using your own beautiful bounty put up in a mason jar, you will want to drain them before chopping, reserving the juice. Home-canned tomatoes are often more watery, so you will add the juice as you cook the gravy to maintain a saucy consistency without it becoming too thin. You can add herbs like basil and thyme to the recipe, but remember that you are not making a spaghetti sauce, but a simple thickened gravy.
As an accompaniment to Kale Potato Cakes, Tomato Gravy often appears at breakfast.
Makes about 1 1⁄3 cups
You Will Need
- 2 tablespoons bacon grease or olive oil
- 1⁄2 medium yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 (14.5-ounce) can (2 cups) diced tomatoes, with their juices
- 1⁄2-tablespoon sorghum syrup
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper
- 2 slices bacon, fried crisp and crumbled (optional)
To Prepare
1) In a heavy skillet or saucepan, melt the bacon grease over medium-high heat. Add the onions and saute until they are just starting to turn translucent, about 2 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over them and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until flecks of flour are beginning to turn golden.
2) Add the tomatoes and stir in the sorghum syrup until it dissolves. Reduce the heat to a low simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes or so, stirring frequently to keep the tomatoes from sticking. Add a little water or tomato juice, if needed, but you are aiming for the consistency of a thick gravy, so not much.
3) When the tomatoes have largely disintegrated, remove the pan from the heat and add salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Both commercial and home-canned tomatoes can vary in the amount of salt already added, so it’s important to taste and season accordingly. Traditionally, lots of cracked black pepper was used.
4) Serve hot, with the crumbled bacon sprinkled over the top if you desire.
5) Extra can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and reheated in the microwave or in the top of a double boiler.
See more at ronnilundy.com.