Stuffed Potato Cakes

Tom just "made these up" the other night, and they were awesome!  They would be good as a dinner side, or maybe even for breakfast!  Serves about 6.

Stuffed Potato Cakes

Ingredients

6 medium red potatoes

¼ cup chives, chopped

3 tbl. butter (for potato mixture)

1 tsp. garlic powder (for potato mixture)

salt & pepper to taste (for potato mixture)

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14 mushrooms, coarsely chopped

2 tbl. butter (for cooking the mushrooms)

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1 cup flour

½ tsp. Paprika

½ tsp. black pepper

½ tsp. garlic powder

1 tbl. parmesan cheese

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4 oz. Mozzarella cheese, cut into ¼” slices then cut into ¼” cubes

½ cup Canola oil

Directions

·         Steam the potatoes until tender and put into a mixing bowl

·         Add the chives, 3 tbl. of butter, 1 tsp. garlic powder, and salt & pepper to taste, mix well and mash together with a potato masher..not a mixer.

·         Cover and refrigerate for about one hour

·         When cooled, mash them up good again with your hand (so they’re not stiff) and return to refrigerator until ready you’re ready to assemble and cook

·         In a small skillet, cook the chopped mushrooms over medium heat in the 2 tbl. of butter, stirring often until they give up their liquid, then remove from heat and cool

·         In a separate bowl, add the flour, paprika, black pepper, garlic powder and parmesan cheese, and mix together well

·         Line a baking sheet with wax paper

·         Take one cup of the mashed potato mixture and shape into a ball then flatten out with your hand on the wax paper lined baking tray (make about 6” circles out of the potatoes)

·         In the middle of each potato circle, add 1 tbl. of the sautéed mushrooms and 1 tbl. of the Mozzarella, and push down into the center

·         Using the wax paper, fold the edges of the potatoes toward the middle until they overlap the cheese and mushrooms, then pick up the potato pancake and mash the edges together well with your hands

·         Dredge each potato pancake in the flour mixture and return to the wax paper lined baking tray

·         If making ahead of time, refrigerate until ready to cook

·         In a 12” skillet, heat the Canola oil over medium

·         Fry the potato cakes a few at a time in the oil (don’t crowd) approx. 8 minutes on each side, turning once, until evenly browned.

·         Remove to a tray and keep warm in the oven until ready to serve