Ingredients
5-6 medium potatoes. They should look about right for how hungry you are.
4 or so slices of streaky bacon (smoked if you prefer) cut into smallish pieces
Heaped teaspoon baking powder
Butter and oil
Coarsely grate the potatoes then handful by handful squeeze the excess water out of them. Put the gratings in a bowl
Add the bacon pieces and baking powder and mix it all up with a spoon to a homogeneous mixture
Heat a frying pan, melt the butter and veg oil until is stops foaming. There should be enough to fully coat the pan base.
Add the potato mix to the frying pan, spread it out to a flat layer then use the back of a large metal spoon to press the potato down and form a compact cake.
Fry the potato cake until the potato on top begins to look cooked and, when you peer under the edge the potato is golden and crispy
Put a chopping board across the top of the frying pan and invert it, so that the cake drops onto the board. You may need to check it is loose in the pan with a spatula before you do this.
Add some more butter and oil to the pan and when ready, slide the cake uncooked side down back into the pan. Press it down with the metal spoon
Fry until the second side is also golden and crisp, slide out of the pan onto chopping board and portionto serve.
Top with a fried egg if you fancy it
Method
"You know what the fellow said – in Italy, for thirty years under the Borgias, they had warfare, terror, murder and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci and the Renaissance. In Switzerland, they had brotherly love, they had five hundred years of democracy and peace – and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock." Well no offence to Harry Lime, but he missed off one of the best Swiss exports (after chocolate), which is Roesti. Purists may not recognise this version, but it is a classic and we love it. Great for brunch or lunch on its own - or as an accompaniment to some Zurcher Geschnetzeltes (try them if you haven't they are great.)
Rosti is a great example of how a few simple ingredients can be combined to make something unbelievably tasty and filling. Served them with fried egg on top for lunch and the combination is luxurious - try a duck egg if you are feeling flush (or is that flash)
The occasion for cooking this on this last weekend in November was that the Youngest and I were at home on our own. It was a classic late autumn day - bright, crisp and cold so something warm and filling was called for. Rosti is a firm favourite and so we were on. The reason for that is that while easy to cook or 2, if you are cooking for a crowd you need a lot of frying pans and stove top space. Unless you are happy to stage the meal and spend your time cooking! So down to two, and this is a no-brainer for a weekend lunch. I had a fried egg on mine, and we both insist on tomato ketchup. Not very echt, but very delicious.
The quantities below are fro 2 people, because it fits in one frying pan, and about half a pan is what you need. I don't bother to peel the potatoes, as long as they are clean. Flipping the rosti can be tricky - be careful.