Coming out of the "great depression" in the 30's meant that there was not a lot of diversity in one's daily menus. Plus my mother was not the world's greatest cook. However, she did make wonderful crisp, brown potato pancakes in a large, grand, heavy cast iron frying pan and we kids could not get enough of them. Matter of fact we kids were the kind of kids who spent a great deal of time outside in all kinds of weather running off so many calories that we were always hungry at meal times.
She used to just grate some peeled raw potatoes into a bowl and grate a large onion into the same bowl, add an egg, some salt and pepper, mix together and fry them up. We ate them with apple sauce if we were "flush" or perhaps sour cream and on really big time occasions with meatballs and sauce. However, mostly we ate them plain.
She used a 4 sided metal grater and she used the largest hole side of the grater and when we kids grated there often was a scraped knuckle or two.
Over the years I have come up with an easier recipe and this is a great recipe for potato pancakes.
I boil 2 pounds of washed but unpeeled russet potatoes for about 20 minutes. I then cool and peel the potatoes and grate on the largest holes of my grater. One can put them in a food processor if one wanted to. I cut up 3 scallions chopped fine and mix with the grated potatoes. I then add ½ tsp. salt and ¼ tsp. pepper and add in 1 beaten egg.
I then heat up my cast iron frying pan or my cast iron griddle and pour on a little canola oil and drop a couple of tablespoons of the mix onto my hot pan which I now keep on medium heat. I smooth down my pancakes some so they are flat and round and cook about 4 to 5 minutes on each side. This makes about 12 to 15 pancakes enough for 4 servings.
You can now serve them with any of the above toppings. Either recipe you use is good. Try both methods and make your own decision. My mother's recipe always turned brown in the bowl before the entire mix was cooked. However, it never mattered because as the pancakes cooked they turned back to their original color.
"Tread the Earth Lightly" and in the meantime… May your day be filled with…
Peace, Light and Love,
Author's note: This article was originally written for GreenThumbArticles.com
