She Who Must Be Obeyed had the good fortune to live in Switzerland back a few years ago, granted it was in a somewhat Americanized boarding school while her parents labored in north Africa, but she was exposed then to real chocolate and a few other forever life altering culinary treasures.
One of those other treasures was rosti, the european version of a pan-sized hashbrown – potato pancake often topped with a tasty ‘real’ cheese.
We’ve enjoyed these over the years at some of our favorite ski mountain eateries (we miss you Alta and Snowbird) though haven’t cooked them often at home.
A friend back home in Bozeman asked last week about creating a pile of these for a dinner party and we helped with a bit of recipe testing long distance – this Bacon Gruyere Rosti ended up being the winner (and a big hit at the party).
Never mind that as cooked the recipe has a day’s worth of fat, save up and enjoy it.
It’s damn well worth it. One of the dinner party diners said this Rosti was so good, if you put one on top of your head your tongue would beat your brains out trying to get to it.
3-4 russet potatoes (1.5-2 pounds)
3-4 slices thick-sliced bacon, chopped
Olive oil
Kosher salt
Fresh ground pepper
1 tbsp. fresh thyme
1 clove garlic, minced
3-4 ounces Gruyere cheese, sliced
Chopped scallions or parsley
3-4 eggs
6 tbsp. unsalted butter
Start with the potatoes. Recognizing that not everyone parboils their spuds prior to creating Rosti goodness, we’ve created our best rosti after parboiling the potatoes for 10 minutes or so (starting in cold, salted water) and then cooling in the fridge for at least thirty minutes (up to overnight).
Meanwhile, bacon. Render the bacon over medium heat in a 12-14 inch skillet until brown and crisp then drain on a paper towel. Reserve and measure the drippings, adding olive oil to make 2 tbsp.
Rosti time. Now grate the cooled potatoes using the large holes on a box grater, place in a large bowl. Add the salt, pepper, fresh thyme, minced garlic and bacon and 1 tbsp. of the bacon drippings / olive oil mixture.
Melt 3 tbsp. butter in the skillet over medium-low heat; add another tbsp. of the bacon fat and olive oil mixture. Dump the potato mixture in and pat firmly into an even layer. Cook, with an occasional shake to prevent sticking, for 10-15 minutes until the bottom layer is crisp and golden.
Carefully slide the rosti onto a large plate, invert the skillet over the rosti and flip it quickly, returning the rosti to the pan browned side up. Dot 2 tbsp. butter around the edges and cook another 10 minutes or so until brown and crispy.
Keep an eye on the bottom of the rosti; as it get close to finished lay the Gruyere slices on top and watch them melt into cheesy goodness.
Egg it. As the rosti is browning, grab another skillet and fry the eggs in the remaining butter just until the yolks are set.
Serve and devour. Cut the steaming, crispy rosti in quarters, top each with a fried egg and garnish with the chopped scallions or parsley.
Enjoy.
