Potato Rosti

Try this simple potato rosti – a potato ‘pancake’ originating from Switzerland. Perfectly crisp on the outside and soft and fluffy inside.

This has been a relatively new addition to my weekend meals but let’s be real. How can you go wrong with anything that involves a crispy potato. The traditional potato rosti is a popular Swiss dish that is almost a fusion between a pancake and a hash brown. It’s often served as a side, or as part of a light lunch/brunch.

Potato rosti is made by cooking grated potato (often with a variety of fillings) in some form of oil/butter until crispy. The starch in the potato helps to bind this together without needed any flour or eggs. The rosti is pan fried until the bottom crisps up, and is then carefully flipped over to allow the other side to crisp up. This roughly takes around 6 minutes per side to allow the inside of the rosti to soften and cook through.

What you’ll need

• Potatoes – I recommend a floury potato like a maris piper. It’s a good all-rounder and works brilliantly at crisping up and staying fluffy for the interior. King Edwards or Russet are also excellent choices here
• Butter and olive oil – use a combination of both for flavour and to prevent the butter burning. Alternatively you can use clarified butter (ghee) alone or just oil due to the higher smoke points
• Nutmeg and black pepper – just a pinch, adds a warmth which I really enjoy
• Toppings – this can range from cheese, soured cream, chilli oil, spring onions, herbs. Whatever you like! You can also incorporate some herbs and cheese into the potato mix

I personally love either crispy sage in the mix (sauté some sage leaves in butter until crisp), or just a simple soured cream, spring onions and chilli oil.

How to make a potato rosti

1) Peel and grate potatoes using the larger grater on a box grater. Add salt, pepper and nutmeg, allow this to sit for 5 mins to release the starchy liquid (we need this liquid later so keep aside). Squeeze the potatoes to try and release as much liquid as possible
2) Melt half the butter and half the olive oil in a 10″ skillet/frying pan

3) Add the grated potatoes to the skillet/pan and gently press together with a spatula to lightly compress. Place the heat on medium-low

4) Once the edges have started to turn golden/dark brown, drizzle 2tbsps of the reserved starchy liquid around the potato rosti. This will help to ‘glue’ it together. Cook for a further 5-6 mins
5) TO FLIP – place a chopping board or plate above the pan and flip over. Transferring to the board or plate makes this easier
6)Then melt the remaining butter and olive oil in the pan and slide the rosti back in to cook the underside. This will take anther 5-6 mins – don’t add any more starchy liquid this time.

Potato Rosti

dishbyrish

5 from 1 vote

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Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Total Time 22 minutes mins

Course Breakfast, Side Dish, Snack

Servings 2 people

Equipment

• 10″ skillet/wide pan

Ingredients

  

Ingredients:

• 450 g Maris piper potatoes ~2 large, grated through the larger side on a box grater
• 2 tbsp butter
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 0.5 tsp ground nutmeg
• 1 tsp salt
• Crushed black pepper
• Sour cream/chilli oil optional

Instructions

 

Method:

• Peel and grate your potatoes, add in your salt, pepper, and nutmeg. Allow the mixture to sit for 5 minutes for the potatoes to release their liquid
• Squeeze out as much liquid as you can – but KEEP this liquid aside in a separate bowl
• Add half of your oil and butter to your pan and bring to a medium heat
• Once heated, add your grated potatoes and gently press them together with a spatula. You should hear an instant sizzle as it hits the pan
• Turn the heat down to medium-low, and once the edges start to brown, drizzle 2tbsp of your reserved potato liquid on top of your rosti. This starch will help the potato to “glue” together, and by adding it at this stage, we will have allowed the base to crisp up more readily without having to add additional butter or oil. Allow to cook for 6 minutes
• FLIP, place a chopping board on top of your pan and carefully flip over to release the rosti
• Add the remaining butter and oil to your pan and bring back to a medium heat
• Slide your rosti back in to allow the underside to crisp up. Wait for the sizzle- then drop the heat to medium-low and continue for another 6 minutes. Don’t add any of the potato water
• Flip back out and serve up however you desire

Notes

A few other suggestions:
-Top with butter and flaky sea salt
-Sour cream, and chilli oil
-Crispy sage
-Add onions into the mix
-Add cheese into the mix

If served alone, this will serve 1-2 people.
If serving as a side, this will serve 4.

Keyword crispy, potato, rosti, vegetarian