After doing a little wiki-research on Rösti I found that Rösti was in fact a meal that people woke up to, especially those working on the farm. Nowadays it is considered a national dish in Switzerland and more often a side dish. For me though, tonight Rösti was a meal to wind down to and it was a recipe from that famous potato book that Jay gave me. You can find another delicious recipe from this book in my Thai Chicken Curry with Potatoes and Coconut post.
Anyway, with the amount of butter and potatoes involved I couldn't have been more satisfied. I didn't realize until after the fact that it would have made for a better side dish for dinner portions, but I had two helpings and felt full enough. Jay also got his fill so I think you could do fine eating just this for dinner. Obviously it would make for a more impressive side dish, but I wasn't out to impress tonight. In all honesty what drew me to this recipe was the low amount of ingedients since I wanted to make a fairly cheap and simple homemade meal.
Here is the recipe pretty much word for word, plus my cliff notes/thoughts too.
Swiss Rösti
Rösti can also be served topped with fried eggs, sprinkled with Gruyere cheese, or served separately with meat and sausages.
2 lb. potatoes, unpeeled and well scrubbed
3/4 cup clarified butter*
1 onion, chopped
4 oz. pancetta or bacon, cut into thin strips (I did pancetta)
1 lb. wild mushrooms or large, flat, cultivated mushrooms, or a mixture of both, cut in halves or quarters if large
2 TBSP chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
SERVES 4
*To clarify butter, melt over a gentle heat, then let cool. Pour off and keep the pure butter, discard the solids.
1) Put the whole potatoes in a large saucepan and cover with cold water (I accidentally peeled the potatoes first...was on the phone distracted and did not realize they were supposed to be unpeeled at this point, don't know if it made a big difference in the outcome). Bring to a boil, and cook for 10 to 15 minutes until just tender (I did it for 10 minutes because I thought without skin they might boil faster). Drain well, let cool slightly, peel, then grate coarsely into a large bowl.
2) Heat 2 TBSP butter in a skillet, add the onion and bacon/pancetta, and cook for 5 to 6 minutes until the onions are softened. Tip this mixture into the bowl of potato, season with salt and pepper, and mix well.
3) Heat half the remaining butter in a skillet, add the potato mixture, and press down slightly to form a large pancake (like the size of the skillet). Cook for 10 minutes, adding a little extra butter around the edges and shaking the skillet occasionally.
4) Carefully cover the skillet with a plate and flip over. (THIS PART IS THE TRICKIEST!) I used a round pizza pan, it was the only plate that was big enough, and I had Jay flip it over for me because I was too nervous to do it. If you don't think you have the muscles to do this, you can always break up the pancake into smaller pancakes and do the flipping individually. Ever since my Uncle Buck fascination I have been into big pancakes. Yikes. ANYWAY...after you flip it over add more butter around the edge and cook until golden for about 7 minutes. It may take longer or shorter depending on how high your heat is and how crispy you like your taters. Remove from heat and keep warm.
5) Heat the remaining butter in a skillet. Add the mushrooms and saute, stirring occasionally, for 3 to 5 minutes until tender, but still firm. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the chopped parsley.
6) Serve the rösti topped with mushrooms. You can also divide the rösti mixture in 4 before cooking to serve as a small starter--or vary the topping according to taste, and garnish with a few peppery salad leaves.
This meal could be made a lot faster by using frozen hashbrowns. All you would need to do is pan fry the pancetta or bacon with the onions, and add the hashbrowns/follow the recipe as written.
Here was my final product:
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