Healthy Potato Rosti

I remember reading that some horrifyingly large percentage of teenagers would have no idea what to do if given a whole raw potato.  They had never had to deal with potato in its natural form.  For them, potato was something that came pre-prepared in the frozen section of the supermarket.

This appalled me because I LOVE potato.  The capital letters are necessary.  I can rattle off dozens of recipes.  There is pretty much no week that goes by that doesn't include me eating potato.  I love eating it in so many different ways, but one that I do like to treat myself with is potato rosti.  If I have rosti in a restaurant it is generally a deliciously crunchy, deep fried experience.  In the interest of eating healthily this is clearly not something I would want to eat all the time.  So I had to come up with a way to have my delicious rosti experience without the fat content.  Thank goodness for non-stick pans!  Good non-stick frypans mean that I can enjoy one of my favourite potato dishes with a minimum of fat.

What is your favourite way to have potato?


Healthy Potato Rosti
2-3 potatoes per person
1/2 onion per person (optional)
spray olive oil
sea salt
tiny knob of butter

Coarsely grate your potato and onion over a clean tea-towel.  Mix so that the onion is evenly through the potato.  Now squeeze and squeeze and squeeze to get as much moisture as you possibly can out of your potato.

Heat a non-stick frypan to a medium heat.  Melt your tiny knob of butter, spray lightly with the oil (yes I know the spray can damage the non-stick surface so you can also just pour a tiny bit of oil in) and swirl to coat the pan.

Pile your potato into the pan and push down so you have a compacted circle about 1 - 1.5cm thick.  Cover the fry pan with a lid and cook on medium for about 10 minutes.  You know it is ready to flip when you can see the edges starting to brown.  The lid is important as it steams the rest of the potato while the outside is frying.

To flip, slide your rosti onto a plate.  Spray the uncooked top with a little more olive oil and a light sprinkle of sea salt.  Place the frypan over the plate and flip it all over.  With a bit of practice this gets easy.  Cook for about another 10 minutes till the other side is also nice and golden.

I love to serve this with a steak and a glass of red wine.  Mmmm comfort food indeed!