And from the depths of the yellowed pages of Grandma Gray’s? Genuine, pre 1900 AD, Back Country cookbook (this is fair dinkum), we present another simple and easily made meal using bits and pieces but having a taste like the finest Waldorf cuisine!
A meal for the workmen: Leftover Mash
Hint: If you are going to use this recipe make sure that you have made a lot of mashed potato the night before so that there is plenty left over for this recipe, because this is a dish that will make everyone will come back for 2nds, and 3rds, and ….
Ingredients:
2 cups leftover mashed potatoes,
2 tablespoons of flour,
2/3 cup of grated cheese, (or as much as you can spare),
3 – 5 strips bacon,
1 small very finely chopped onion,
1 egg (at least – depends on how many you’re making),
1½ cups bread crumbs (buy ‘em at the supermarket before you leave home),
Oil for frying,
Salt (Crushed rock salt which has large grains is best,
Pepper – cracked straight from your portable cracker that you always keep in your ‘Tucker Box’ and perhaps a little Worcestershire or BBQ sauce for extra flavour. (Optional)
How to: Cook bacon then dice finely. Add potatoes and flour to a mixing bowl and stir to combine well, and then add cheese, bacon, and onion. Take a heaped tablespoon of mixture and roll with hands into a small ball. It if doesn’t hold its shape, add a little more flour to make the potatoes sturdy. Repeat until done.
Whisk egg into a small bowl and season with salt and pepper. Place bread crumbs in an additional bowl. Dip each ball in egg and then roll in bread crumbs until fully coated.
Heat oil in a frypan or camp oven to medium/medium high heat. Test oil with one ball. The oil should bubble when potato is in oil and each ball should take about 1-2 minutes to brown and cook through. (If takes longer the oil needs to be hotter, if it browned too quickly on the outside and the inside is still cold, the temperature needs to be lower.) Once oil is ready, add potato balls in small batches and fry for 1-2 minutes – it will depend on size. Remove with slotted spoon to drain oil and place on paper lined plate to allow excess oil to drain off. Repeat until done. Allow to cool for a minute or two and serve with dipping sauce. “Simples”
Finally: stand back after your mob have had a taste! There will be a rush!
PS. Why not, just for once, bring the ingredients to our next TRAX trip and try it out? All the mob will rush you when they get a whiff of this one!
Grandma Gray was a real person. She was Asst Chaplain, Neil Flower’s maternal grandmother and lived as a girl with her parents in the ‘back country’ around Hay, NSW in a covered dray using open fires.