There may be nothing sadder on the leftovers table than cold mashed potatoes. We ate a lot of potatoes when I was young, and that last half-cup of mash always looked desolate and poverty-stricken in the bowl. My mother just tossed it out. Potatoes were free.
But I have to buy potatoes now. We don’t live in the midst of potato farming country. Potatoes, even leftover, look a little more like food to save. So what do you do with that grim substance called leftover mash?
Here is a good casserole. The family practically drew straws to see who would finish this.
4 cups leftover mash, cold. (The kind made with milk and butter.) One-half cup fried onions (not french fried onions, just an onion sliced and fried.) Two tablespoons dried vegetable flakes. Mix together, put in buttered casserole, top with bits of butter and wheat germ. Bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes. Use fine bread crumbs if you don’t have wheat germ.
Also, for breakfast or an egg dish supper, fried potato cakes.
3 cups mashed potatoes, 1 egg, beaten. Mix together, form into patties about the size and thickness of your palm, coat with wheat germ or whole wheat bread crumbs. Fry lightly on both sides in olive oil.
You may make extra mash just to have these dishes.
