Click here for past issues of the Globe Magazine, dating back to June 22, 1997

Letters to the Magazine editor:
Mail can be sent to Letters to the Editor, The Boston Globe, P.O. Box 2378, Boston, MA 02107-2378. The email address is [email protected] or use our form.

Mash notes

Potato cakes are the perfect supporting players.

To reheat individual cakes: Set the fried cakes on a rimmed baking sheet (leave plenty of room around them). Reheat the cakes in a 400-degree oven for 12 to 15 minutes or until they are hot and sizzling at the edges.

Juicy foods need a little platform, something that offers a contrasting taste and texture and catches the juices. Say you're broiling lamb chops or roasting a chicken whose skin has been rubbed with fresh herbs. Right when the meat or bird is removed from the pan, it's oozing, and those cooking juices can either spread all over the plate or sink into something sturdy and wonderful.

Potatoes, formed into big and little cakes, make delicious pillows just for this purpose. You can cook and grate them and heap them into a hot skillet with nothing more than salt and pepper. The idea is to get them quite crusty in a skillet, so the exterior has some crunch while the interior is creamy.

Some chefs, like Ana Sortun, formerly of Casablanca, whose new Oleana restaurant opens this month in Cambridge, add cheese to the potatoes. Sortun uses taleggio, a melting Italian cheese. Her exceptional cake is formed by layering buttery mashed potatoes with grated potatoes. At Grill 23 & Bar, grated raw potatoes, along with some onion, are pressed into a heavy skillet and cooked to a crunchy, golden tenderness in a dish that has become that restaurant's signature "hash." A similar technique, using mashed red potatoes and fontina cheese, can be employed to make individual cakes.

Potato cakes are always a messy undertaking, but you can make them in advance, clean up the splatter, and reheat them later. In some households, they're more welcome than a wedge of real cake.

MASHED RED POTATO CAKES WITH FONTINA CHEESE

1 pound red potatoes, quartered
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 cups whole milk
2 cups water
Salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 cup shredded fontina cheese
1/4 cup chopped chives
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup dry white bread crumbs
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons butter

In a saucepan, combine the potatoes, garlic, milk, water, and salt. Bring to a boil, lower the heat, and cook the potatoes for 20 minutes or until they are almost falling apart. Set a strainer over a bowl. Drain the potatoes into the strainer, reserving the cooking liquid.

Transfer the potatoes to a bowl. Add 2 tablespoons of the cooking liquid and mash well. (If the skins fall off, it doesn't matter.) Continue adding liquid, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the potatoes hold together.

Stir in the cheese, chives, and onion and plenty of salt and pepper.

Place the bread crumbs on a plate.

Set the oven at 350 degrees.

Have on hand a bowl of water. Dipping your hands into the water, shape the potato mixture into 3-inch cakes.

When you are done shaping the cakes, dry your hands and coat the potatoes in the bread crumbs, patting them into the potatoes so they stick.

In a large heavy skillet, heat 2 tablespoons of the oil and, when it is hot, add 1 tablespoon of the butter. When the butter is foamy, add enough cakes to make one uncrowded layer. Cook them over medium-high heat until browned on one side. Turn them over and brown the other side.

Remove the cakes from the pan and transfer them to a heatproof dish. Keep them warm in the oven.

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil and 1 tablespoon of butter to the pan. Fry the remaining cakes in the same way. Serve at once.

SERVES 6

ANA SORTUN'S MASHED AND GRATED POTATO CAKE WITH TALEGGIO CHEESE

4 russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled
5 tablespoons butter
Salt and pepper, to taste
2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme
2 tablespoons canola oil
3 ounces taleggio cheese, rind removed and thinly sliced

Bring 2 saucepans of water to a boil. In one, place 2 whole potatoes and let the water return to a boil. Lower the heat and cook the potatoes for 25 minutes or until they are almost done. They should still be crunchy in the middle. With a slotted spoon, remove the potatoes from the water, transfer them to a colander, and let cold water run over them until they are cold.

Meanwhile, cut the remaining 2 uncooked potatoes into eighths and place them in the other pot of boiling water. Turn the heat to low and cook the potatoes for 15 minutes or until they are tender.

Drain the potatoes and return them to the pot. Set the pot over the lowest possible heat and dry them for 2 to 3 minutes or until they stop steaming. Remove the pan from the heat.

Transfer the potatoes to a ricer or mash with a fork and transfer them to a bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of the butter with salt and pepper. Continue to mash until the mixture is smooth and creamy.

When the whole potatoes are cool, grate them on the largest holes of a box grater. Transfer to a bowl and add salt, pepper, and thyme.

Set the oven at 400 degrees.

In a 10-inch nonstick skillet with a heatproof handle, heat the oil. When it is hot, add the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter.

When the butter melts and begins to brown, add half of the grated potatoes to the pan and smooth them with a spatula. Top with dollops of mashed potatoes and cheese. Cover with the remaining grated potatoes and smooth into a cake.

Cook the potato cake on the stove over medium-high heat for 5 to 8 minutes, just until the bottom of the cake is golden brown. Set a large plate upside down on the skillet and, holding the skillet firmly with potholders, turn the skillet upside down so that the cake falls onto the plate.

Then slide the potato cake back into the skillet. It does not matter if it no longer looks neat. Reshape it with a spatula. Transfer it to the hot oven. Cook the cake for 15 minutes or until it is golden brown.

Remove it from the oven, cut into thick wedges, and serve with roast chicken or pot roast.

SERVES 4

GRILL 23'S HASH BROWN POTATO CAKE

Without eggs, this potato cake, from the Back Bay restaurant, relies completely on the starch in the potatoes to knit it together. Only russets (or Idahos) will work. Grill 23 offers these with its steaks - an incredible combination. ufingredients

4 russet or Idaho potatoes, peeled
1 onion, quartered
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Salt and pepper, to taste

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the shredding blade, shred the potatoes and onion. Transfer the shredded vegetables to a large bowl and fill it with cold water. Set them aside to soak for 30 minutes. Tip them into a colander and shake it to drain the vegetables well. Pat them dry with paper towels.

Set the oven at 425 degrees.

Heat a 10-inch cast-iron skillet over high heat. Add the oil. When the oil is hot but not smoking, add the shredded potatoes and onion to the pan. Press the surface with a spatula, tucking it into the sides to make curved edges. Sprinkle the cake with salt and pepper. Cook over medium-high heat for 10 minutes, until it is golden on the bottom.

Set a large plate upside down on the skillet and, holding the skillet firmly with potholders, turn the skillet upside down so that the cake falls onto the plate.

Then slide the potato cake back into the skillet. If it no longer looks neat, reshape it with a spatula. Transfer it to the hot oven. Cook the potato cake for 15 minutes or until it is golden brown all over.

SERVES 4