Recipe: Mashed Potato Pancakes
A brilliant leftovers transformation — plus a simple mashed potato recipe — by chef Alexis Delaney
As the chef de cuisine of Talbott and Arding in Hudson, NY and a mom of a young kid, chef Alexis Delaney knows about crowd-pleasing cooking. Talbott and Arding is the kind of market I dream of for my neighborhood. Besides an expertly curated assortment of books, packaged foods, and beverages, there’s also an amazing selection of prepared foods: lovely sandwiches, soups, and breads; entrees like chicken milanese and duck leg confit; sides like cauliflower gratin and chicory and citrus salad. If I lived in Hudson, I’d be there multiple times a week. I’d want my own line of credit there.
It’s not just that Alexis creates dishes that people want to bring home. She also repurposes whatever doesn’t sell, finding ways to transform or use whatever she can so there’s as little food waste as possible. That particular skill set is why I wanted to feature her at this time of year. Holiday cooking inevitably creates leftovers — and while leftovers can definitely be a highlight (hello, Thanksgiving sandwich), they can also be something of a chore. I asked Alexis for a recipe that centered around Thanksgiving leftovers so that this year those leftovers would be a gift — they key to an entirely new meal that requires precious little time to get onto the table.
What she shared is a family recipe that harkens back to her great-grandmother’s Ukrainian dureny potato pancakes. Instead of grating potatoes, Alexis’s mom would make the pancakes out of leftover mashed potatoes. So too do we in this recipe, packing in flavor with add-ins like cheese and herbs. For my recipe tests, I used chives, cheddar, and crumbled bacon, which I highly recommend. Along with the pancake recipe, Alexis also shared a lovely, incredibly simple mashed potato recipe. You can easily scale it up if you want to serve it for a crowd, but thanks to its ease, you can also file it away for any weeknight you want some holiday comfort food.
Here’s what Alexis has to say about the recipe:
My mother would make these for breakfast with leftover mashed potatoes, inspired by her Ukrainian grandmother. Hers were always plain potato, served with applesauce and sour cream, but over the years I’ve taken to adding bits of cooked greens, crumbled bacon, chopped herbs, scallions or cheese as well. Topping them with a fried or poached egg is never a bad idea either!
Please let Alexis and me know if you make this recipe by sharing your results in Table Chat and tagging us on Instagram: @hillarydixlercanavan and @alexisddelaney.
And, if you like this recipe, here are some other mashed potato transformations you might like too:
Leftover Mashed Potato Croquettes (Jesse Szewczyk, The Kitchn)
Turkey Shepherd’s Pie with Two-Potato Topping (Jimmy Bradley, Food & Wine)
Potato Pete’s Potato Scones (Eleanor Barnett, Ligaya Mishan, NYT Cooking)