Bacon and Parmesan Loaded Potato Cakes

So I was thinking about crab cakes a few weeks ago (normal thoughts right?) and I got the idea of doing something similar but with potatoes. Kind of like a loaded potato crossed with mashed potatoes, then with crab cakes. This thought process is exactly why I shouldn’t think while hungry. Anyway, the bacon and parmesan loaded potato cakes tasted fantastic, especially with the cream sauce over them! You can make them a day or two beforehand and then fry them when you need them, and they’re really easy to put together so try it out! Oh and if you leave the bacon out, it is perfectly vegetarian!

You can put pretty much whatever you would like in these, here’s what I used for the filling:

• 2 pounds of baking potatoes (they’re going to be lighter once you peel them)
• 1/3 cup of grated parmesan cheese
• A handful of chopped cilantro
• A handful of chopped green onions
• A teaspoon of salt
• A teaspoon of pepper
• 1 egg
• 3 cooked slices of bacon, sliced

I also decided to make a cream sauce for the potato cakes which is similar to the alfredo sauce I made for the spinach and mushroom alfredo. It is pretty simple:

•  1/4 cup of grated parmesan
• Black Pepper
• Salt
• Oregano
• ~3/4 cup of heavy cream

Alright so start by boiling the potatoes completely for about 15-20 minutes. Once they’re tender, drain them very well and then mash them in a bowl.  Next mix them with whatever filling you’re using. Make sure everything is nice and evenly distributed, roll them into equal sized balls and then flatten them out into cakes. Flour each of the cakes like you see in the picture, just a light layer on each side works well. Once they’re nice and dusted with flour, fry them in a skillet with about 1/8 inch of oil, for about 2 minutes per side.

For the cream sauce, make a quick roux with a tablespoon of butter and a tablespoon of flour. You can see an explanation of a roux in my post on shrimp creole, it is a common way to thicken sauces and really adds flavor to them. Anyway, once the roux starts to turn tannish brown, add in the cream, pepper, salt, parmesan and oregano. Cook this for a minute or two, until the sauce starts to thicken. Make sure you taste it while you make it so that you can get the flavors right!

Once everything is done cooking, spoon some of the sauce over the potato cakes and chow down! The potato cakes should be crispy and the sauce creamy. You may want to use these as an appetizer or a side to go along with a meat or something, they would work very well like that.