Boxty

Ingredients

• 1 cup grated raw potato
• 1 cup mashed potato
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Salt to taste
• Buttermilk*
• Oil for frying or baking

Directions

Wash, peel and grate potato. Spread on a clean tea towel, roll towel up and twist to squeeze as much liquid out of potato as possible. Do this over a bowl to catch liquid. Allow to sit until starch settles to bottom of bowl. Pour liquid off and save. Put grated potato into a bowl and add remaining ingredients except buttermilk. Toss together. Add the liquid squeezed from potato and enough buttermilk to make a very thick batter. Stir just enough to moisten all dry ingredients.

Boxty on the Griddle
Heat a heavy skillet and oil it well. Drop batter by generous spoons full onto hot skillet or griddle. With back of a wooden spoon, flatten them until they are only about ½ inch thick and bake like for pancakes or latkes, 2 or 3 minutes on each side. Serve hot. This type is most often used for breakfast.

Boxty in the Pan
Oil a baking pan and pour batter into it. Place in center of a preheated 350° oven and bake until a skewer inserted into center comes out clean, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and cut into squares. Serve hot. This type is generally used as a bread with dinner.

Boxty Biscuits
For this type of Boxty, use less buttermilk. Sprinkle a flat surface with flour and place thick batter or very soft dough on it. Sprinkle with a bit more flour and pat out into a flat cake about half an inch thick. Cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter and bake on lightly oiled baking pan in the oven like for biscuits or on a lightly oiled skillet or griddle on top of the stove. These were traditionally served for breakfast or dinner. These are Geraldine?s favorite version.
* If you don?t have buttermilk, use regular milk to which you add a teaspoon of white vinegar.
A potato cake made with half grated raw potato and half leftover mashed potato.