Potato cakes with a surprise of avocado and Pepper jack cheese inside~ by Serena Ball, MS, RD
These are decidedly not your typical Irish potato cakes. But I’m (a very small) part Irish – and I couldn’t stop eating them. So there you go – an Irish potato cake mixed up with avocado and stuffed with a melty, Pepper Jack cheese kick…
Here’s what happened: I wanted to make potato cakes for dinner – but honestly, I didn’t feel like making much else but a salad – so to make the cakes a meal, I added protein-rich beans. But instead of totally winging it, I’m the type of cook who likes to start by consulting a few recipes that have been tested in a real test kitchen. So this recipe is sort-of a mash-up (literally!) of these two recipes from Cooking Light: Black-Eyed Patties with Garlic Pepper Salsa and Ecuadorean Potato & Cheese Patties.
Now as a struggling, still-learning (sigh!) food photographer, I also look at other food photography on sites like foodgawker and even CookingLight.com to get ideas on food styling. So I was comforted by the fact that the bean patties in the (professional!) photo from Cooking Light looked, well, just as boldly BROWN as mine! Well, maybe mine look a tiny bit more ‘kickin’ since I tried (hard!) to capture the melty Cabot Pepper Jack cheese stuffed inside.
Despite their BROWN appearance, my kids loved the surprise of cheese and avocado inside. They were a hit. I’m going to make them again for St. Patricks Day – maybe topped with even more GREEN avocado.
PrintPepper Jack, Potato & Bean Cakes
- Yield: 7-8 burgers 1x
Ingredients
- 1 (16-ounce) can pinto beans, rinsed and drained (or 1 3/4 cups cooked dried pinto beans)
- 1 cup cold mashed potatoes
- 1 avocado, thinly sliced, divided
- 1 egg
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 4 garlic cloves, minced
- 5 tablespoons quick (or old fashioned) oats
- 2 teaspoon ground coriander
- 3 teaspoons ground cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 2 ounces Pepper Jack cheese (I used Cabot Pepper Jack, light)
- Salsa topping:
- 1 avocado
- 1 orange or yellow bell pepper
- 1–2 tablespoons fresh lime juice (or lemon juice if you’re out of limes, like me!)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°.
- Place pinto beans, mashed potatoes and half of avocado in a bowl. Mash well with a fork; add egg, mix well then set aside.
- Heat oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion; sauté 3 minutes or until tender. Add garlic and sauté another minute. Add oats, coriander, cumin, salt, and pepper; cook 3 minute, stirring constantly until oats are slightly toasted. Remove from heat to cool slightly.
- Prepare cheese ‘stuffing’ by slicing cheese into six 1-inch x 1-inch x ¼-inch thick slices. Top each with a 1-inch long slice of avocado. Cut eight (4-inch) squares of parchment paper. Place 1 of each ‘stuffing’ onto square of parchment paper.
- Add oat mixture to bean mixture, and stir well.
- Divide bean mixture into 7-8 equal portions, shaping around each cheese ‘stuffing’ and into 3 1/2-inch patties; place on a parchment paper square. Transfer parchment paper square with burger to cooking-spray covered baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes, turning after 6 minutes and removing parchment paper.
- Top with salsa topping.
Notes
For a more golden colored burger, broil for 1 minute at the end of cooking; or make ahead and broil to warm up.
Please share any tips you’ve learned when photographing particularly unappetizing foods like brown bean burgers – or tips for feeding these sorts of BROWN foods to kids!
Bean Bytes 79
Monday 3rd of March 2014
[…] Falafel w/ Spicy Yogurt Feta Dip Pepperjack Bean Potato Cakes Greek Yogurt Mac & Cheese w/ Peas and Bacon Easy Enchilada Sauce Rice Krispie Sushi Rolls […]
EA-The Spicy RD
Tuesday 25th of February 2014
I thnk these sound divine! I also bet they're WAY better than the savory corn cakes I made tonight-blech! And my tip for brown food photos is lots of vibrant herbs & other colorful garnish :-)
Serena
Thursday 27th of February 2014
Coming from you - the blogger of many GORGEOUS photos- I will take the tip of many garnishes to heart! Thanks for sharing EA!
Regan @ Cabot
Monday 24th of February 2014
Who cares if they're brown as long as they're yummy :-)
Serena
Thursday 27th of February 2014
Thanks Regan! They're the perfect way to spice up St. Patricks Day festivities!
Regan @ Cabot
Monday 24th of February 2014
Who cares if they're brown as long as they're yummy :-)