Main courses, Parve

Recipe: Swiss Potato Pancake (Rösti)

Rosti

With the cold comes that natural instinct to bulk up on heartier food, which somehow seems more warming. In our home, sometimes nothing else seems to hit the spot quite so well as the Swiss potato pancake known as Rösti. It’s basically a large, skillet-sized potato pancake with a texture and taste similar to hash browns.

It’s inexpensive. It’s not hard to make, and it’s practically a given you already have the ingredients on hand. Makes a perfect simple dinner for one. But beware: if you are not the only one at home, the smell will have your family members begging you to make just one more Rösti for them.

Swiss Potato Pancake (Rösti)

Yield:

One very large or two smaller servings

Ingredients:

  • 3 large, unpeeled potatoes, scrubbed
  • 2 Tablespoons olive oil
  • 1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
  • Salt

Method:

  1. Grate potatoes with shredder disk in food processor or on the large holes of a box grater.
  2. Heat oil and butter in a large, nonstick skillet and heat over medium-high heat.
  3. Add the grated potatoes to the hot fat, flatten the potatoes into a disk, sprinkle generously with salt, and cover the pan with a lid. Cook for approximately 12 minutes, or until edges of underside have turned golden and can be easily loosened and lifted without falling apart.
  4. Slide the Rösti onto a dinner plate. Flip the contents of the plate into the pan, so the bottom crust is facing up. Salt generously, cover again, and cook for 10 minutes.
  5. Slide the Rösti back onto the plate and reverse into the skillet once more to restore the crispness of the first side you browned.
  6. Slide the Rösti onto a plate and serve. Good plain or with ketchup.