Region by region, you can discover a wide variety of potato dishes throughout Italy, from Friuli-Venezia Giulia’s patate in tecia to Calabria’s patate ‘mpacchiuse and Naples’ famous gateau. However, let’s step across the border to discover rosti, a tasty dish from Swiss cuisine! Rosti is a golden disk with a crispy crust made with grated potatoes, and there are two major schools of thought on how to make it: one suggests grating raw potatoes, and the other suggests using cooked potatoes. In this recipe, we opted for a precooking method to make the preparation easier and achieve a softer texture on the inside. Additionally, rosti can be enriched with numerous ingredients, such as speck, onions, or cheese, but in our recipe, you will only find potatoes and butter – because it’s already delicious enough as is! We leave it up to you to enjoy rosti in its traditional or innovative variations, such as artichoke or lentil rosti, and the difficult task of declaring the best one!
Rosti
Ingredients:
– Red potatoes: 750g
– Butter: 55g
– Salt: to taste
– Black pepper: to taste
Calories in Rosti
Difficulty: Easy
Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 30 minutes
Servings: 4
Cost: Low
Preparation
How to Prepare Rosti:
1. Start by putting the potatoes in a pot with plenty of cold water, bring to a boil, and cook for about 10-15 minutes. The time may vary depending on the size of the potatoes; they should still be quite hard.
2. After draining them, peel the potatoes and grate them in a large bowl with a coarse grater. The potatoes should be cold or lukewarm for this step.
3. Season the grated potatoes with salt and pepper, and mix well.
4. Next, take a non-stick pan with a diameter of 22 cm, add a portion of the total amount of butter, and melt it.
5. Pour the grated potatoes into the pan and stir for about 5 minutes over medium to high heat, starting to shape the rosti with a spatula.
6. Add small pieces of butter to the sides of the rosti and continue cooking for 6-7 minutes without stirring.
7. Grease a wide, flat lid with butter and place it on the pan to flip the rosti.
8. Melt another small piece of butter in the pan before sliding the rosti back in.
9. Add more butter flakes to the sides and cook the rosti on the other side for another 6-7 minutes, still over medium to high heat.
10. When the potato rosti is crispy on the outside and soft on the inside, it’s time to enjoy!
Storage: We recommend consuming the rosti right after preparing it. Alternatively, you can store it in the fridge for a day and reheat it in the oven before serving.
Tip: If you prefer, you can use extra-virgin olive oil instead of butter, as in our light rosti recipe. You can also add diced speck or bacon, onions, grated cheese, or herbs to the potato mixture!
Did you know that there are potato fritters similar to rosti in Jewish tradition? Try the latkes recipe!