It's nearly St. Patrick's Day Dear Reader, and if you're anything like me, the thought of a pint of green Guinness just isn't your cup of tea. Luckily, the Irish have many other, more comforting choices, such as Boxty, to celebrate the day that don't include a hefty dose of shamrock green food colouring.
Boxty, is a traditional Irish potato pancake with its origins in the northern counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan. There are many variations on boxty recipes, including its name, some calling for eggs, grated potato and a small amount of flour, others calling for a combination of mashed potatoes and grated, raw potatoes. Some add savoury ingredients such as garlic or green onions.
Boxty, which dates back before the Irish Potato Famine, is so much a part of local culture, that it has been the inspiration for rhymes such as:
Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty
You'll never get a man.
Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
The wee one in the middle,
That's the one for Mary Anne.
It is comfort food at its most basic. With the addition of green onion, my version is savoury and is quite lovely to eat with a dollop of sour cream or as a side to your favourite breakfast of bacon or sausage. My son makes a breakfast tortilla out of his by filling it with scrambled egg and bacon. No matter which way you eat boxty, you will find yourself making it more than once a year.
Boxty (Irish Potato Pancakes)
Makes 8-10 small pancakes or one large pancake
1 cup mashed potatoes (2 potatoes cooked and mashed)
1 1/2 cups grated raw potato (2 medium potatoes)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 green onions, sliced
3 tbsp butter
Peel and cut potatoes into similar sized chunks. Cover with water in medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, mash, then set aside.
Next, grate the other two potatoes onto a clean tea towel. Gather the towel and squeeze as much liquid as you can from the potatoes. Discard the starchy water.
In a large bowl, combine the mashed and grated potatoes. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add flour mixture to the potatoes and toss to combine.
Add one cup of buttermilk to the potato/flour mixture and stir well to form a thick batter (It should have the consistency of rice pudding) If the mixture seems too thick, add up to another 1/2 cup of buttermilk to achieve desired consistency. Stir in sliced green onion until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Taking care not to crowd the pan, dollop batter into 3 inch sized pancakes. Each pancake should puff up to about one inch in height. To ensure the raw, grated potato cooks through, low and slow is the key to boxty success. Cook until each side is browned and crispy, about 8 to 10 minutes per side. Melt another tablespoon of butter in the pan between batches and continue until all of the batter has been used. (I usually use two skillets at a time to speed up the process)
Alternatively, you can cook this as one large pancake in an 8 inch pan with each side taking about 10 to 12 minutes to brown.
Boxty, is a traditional Irish potato pancake with its origins in the northern counties of Cavan, Donegal, Leitrim and Monaghan. There are many variations on boxty recipes, including its name, some calling for eggs, grated potato and a small amount of flour, others calling for a combination of mashed potatoes and grated, raw potatoes. Some add savoury ingredients such as garlic or green onions.
Boxty, which dates back before the Irish Potato Famine, is so much a part of local culture, that it has been the inspiration for rhymes such as:
Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
If you can't make boxty
You'll never get a man.
Boxty on the griddle,
Boxty in the pan,
The wee one in the middle,
That's the one for Mary Anne.
It is comfort food at its most basic. With the addition of green onion, my version is savoury and is quite lovely to eat with a dollop of sour cream or as a side to your favourite breakfast of bacon or sausage. My son makes a breakfast tortilla out of his by filling it with scrambled egg and bacon. No matter which way you eat boxty, you will find yourself making it more than once a year.
Boxty (Irish Potato Pancakes)
Makes 8-10 small pancakes or one large pancake
1 cup mashed potatoes (2 potatoes cooked and mashed)
1 1/2 cups grated raw potato (2 medium potatoes)
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 green onions, sliced
3 tbsp butter
Peel and cut potatoes into similar sized chunks. Cover with water in medium sized pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue to simmer until potatoes are fork tender, about 15 to 20 minutes. Drain the potatoes, mash, then set aside.
Next, grate the other two potatoes onto a clean tea towel. Gather the towel and squeeze as much liquid as you can from the potatoes. Discard the starchy water.
In a large bowl, combine the mashed and grated potatoes. In another bowl, sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Add flour mixture to the potatoes and toss to combine.
Add one cup of buttermilk to the potato/flour mixture and stir well to form a thick batter (It should have the consistency of rice pudding) If the mixture seems too thick, add up to another 1/2 cup of buttermilk to achieve desired consistency. Stir in sliced green onion until evenly distributed throughout the batter.
Melt one tablespoon of the butter in a skillet over medium-low heat. Taking care not to crowd the pan, dollop batter into 3 inch sized pancakes. Each pancake should puff up to about one inch in height. To ensure the raw, grated potato cooks through, low and slow is the key to boxty success. Cook until each side is browned and crispy, about 8 to 10 minutes per side. Melt another tablespoon of butter in the pan between batches and continue until all of the batter has been used. (I usually use two skillets at a time to speed up the process)
Alternatively, you can cook this as one large pancake in an 8 inch pan with each side taking about 10 to 12 minutes to brown.
I had a little help squeezing the excess liquid from the grated potato.
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