Rösti - Swiss Hash Brown Potatoes - Away A While Recipe Favorites

Rösti - Swiss Hash Brown Potatoes

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It takes a while to work your way through ten pounds of potatoes. Despite all the potatoes I used last week, there was still a couple of pounds left in the sack that I wanted to finish up. I didn't want to repeat any of the dishes I had already made, so I skimmed through my files looking for a specific recipe for the Swiss version of hash brown potatoes that's called rösti. The recipe comes from Saveur magazine and I have had and used it for over a decade now. I love these potatoes, but I don't make them as often as I'd like because of the time required to get them on the table. There is nothing hard about the recipe, but the potatoes cook twice and must be chilled before they are finally browned. I usually boil and chill the potatoes the day before I plan to serve them, but, even with advanced planning, you still need the better part of an hour to complete their cooking. That being said, they are worth waiting for. The Silver Fox and I first had them years ago in a ski resort where we spent a completely unplanned day. Bad weather had forced us off the road and this was the only place to stay. We refer to the interlude as our introduction to après skiing and rösti and the meaning of the word fleeced. Rösti is a Swiss dish that consists mainly of potatoes. It is a common breakfast dish and many consider it to be the national dish of Switzerland. It was originally considered to be a complete breakfast, but over time it became an accompaniment to other dishes and was served with meals throughout the day. The dish is made with coarsely grated potatoes which can be cooked or raw. They are shaped into rounds or cooked as a large cake in a frying pan. While some add additional ingredients, the dish traditionally is seasoned only with salt and pepper before it is slowly fried in lard or butter. The process produces a wonderful crust and creamy interior that distinguishes it from standard hash browns. If you are a breakfast lover and have never tasted these potatoes, I hope you'll give this recipe a try. You will be wowed. I promise. Directions for making rösti can be found here.

                    

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Table for Two - Homemade Hash Browns

From the kitchen of One Perfect Bite...It has been a while since I posted a Table for Two recipe, but I was thrilled when several of you asked that they keep coming and be set apart from other recipes on the blog, perhaps even giving them  a category all their own. Come September, if the good Lord is willin' and the creek don't rise, they will be given their own page where they can be accessed quickly and in a much easier fashion than is now the case. Tonight's recipe is simple in the extreme, but I promise you'll find this version of hash brown potatoes to be delicious, as well as being scaled to feed just two people. The recipe comes from Better Homes and Gardens, so you can rest assured it has been tested and the results will be spot on. I do have a couple of tips to share with you though. When I fry these I use a combination of oil and butter. The butter adds flavor, while the oil helps keep the butter from burning when the potatoes are cooked at a higher temperature. The next tip is an admission of sorts. I am not a ballerina in the kitchen, so I have to be extremely careful when it comes to flipping or turning anything. My simultaneous handling of two spatulas is better suited to a comedy routine than a cooking blog. Over the years, I've developed coping mechanisms that make me appear less clumsy than I actually am. In this case, I turn the half done potato cake onto a flat plate and slip the uncooked side of back into the pan to finish the cooking. I actually use the bottom of a cheesecake pan, which is perfectly flat,  to make the transfer. If you decide to follow suit, be forewarned that it will get hot very quickly and you will curse my name if you are not using pot holders of some type. Remember, I warned you. The Silver Fox and I have passed the age where hash browns can be part of every breakfast we eat, but when I make them, we usually use them as a base for eggs. His are basted and not quite set, while I prefer mine to be poached. The goal here is an egg that will run over the potatoes when poked, adding its eggy richness to the mix. We both like these potatoes and they are a regular feature of holiday breakfasts and those occasions when we have breakfast for dinner. I hope you will try this recipe. I know you'll be pleased with the results. Here is how these homemade hash browns are made.