Sides

Mini Potato Rosti

December 4, 2012

Greetings from Seattle. I’m here just over a week and settling in well. Apologies to my subscribers for sending out a premature update yesterday. I was having a wee technical issue with my site 🙂 It was kind of one of those weird days. I was all set to make some potato latkes yesterday and had everything prepped and ready. I had read a few tips and tricks online for making perfect potato latkes, and I felt well informed. It’s a pretty easy recipe, but there are a few little things that make these treats extra tasty and crispy. In the end these turned out great, nice and crunchy on the outside and soft in the middle with a hint of spring onion and thyme. As soon as I took the photo, I gobbled them up … delicious. It was only then that I noticed the cupful of beaten egg, sitting forlornly on the kitchen counter. I forgot to put in the egg! So it turns out I didn’t make potato latkes after all, I actually made potato rosti! They tasted delicious though, and I’m really looking forward to making them again. I guess  a cooking faux pas can sometimes turn into a cooking win!

Ingredients

  • 4 spring onions, white and green parts
  • 450g /2 medium sized red potatoes (Roosters)
  • 1 tablespoon of all purpose flour (gluten free flour also works fine)
  • Salt and pepper
  • Sprinkle of paprika
  • A few sprigs of thyme ( a few leaves for potatoes, and a few sprigs for garnish)
  • A tablespoon of olive oil

To serve

  • Sour cream
  • Tomato Salsa

Method

Start by peeling and slicing the spring onions into fine disks. Leave aside. Next, begin peeling the potatoes. Once they are peeled you can place one of the potatoes into a bowl of cold water, while you are grating the other. (This will prevent the potato from going brown) Using the largest grating part of a box grater, begin to grate the potatoes. Place the grated potatoes in a medium sized bowl. Remove the other potato from the water and dry well with a tea towel. Grate this potato and add it the other grated potato.

It’s really important to try and get as much moisture from the grated potato. So take a small handful of the potato and squeeze it over a sink to remove all the excess moisture. Continue to do this with the rest of the grated potato, so that most of the moisture is removed. Place the grated potato into a dry bowl.

To get even more moisture from the potatoes, I pressed a few sheets of paper roll on top the potatoes and applied some pressure to get them extra dry. Next, mix the the potatoes with the flour and the sliced spring onions. Season with salt, pepper, paprika and a few thyme leaves.

Add the oil to the frying pan and heat over a medium to high heat. To check if the oil is ready, you should take a pinch of the potato mix and place it on the pan. If it sizzles straight away, you are ready to cook. To form the rostis, take a heaped dessertspoon of the mix and place it on the frying pan. Flatten it out slightly with a fish slice. Place all the mini rostis on the pan. Cook for a few minutes, until golden on one side. Flip the potato rostis and cook on the other side until equally golden brown. Remove from the pan and put them on a plate lined with kitchen roll. The kitchen paper will help to remove excess fat. Serve straight away with tomato salsa / sour cream.