Week 36 – potato and courgette rosti (new recipe)

During the last week I have for various reasons been buying breakfast and lunch instead of making my own. And it’s bloody expensive! A fruit salad for breakfast, soup and yoghurt or sandwich for lunch, throw in a coffee and you are looking at £7-10 per day in the City of London. An expensive way to strengthen my resolve to get back to packed lunches.

As the weather is turning wintry (I haven’t had to put the heat on yet but the cats are using my lap as their personal radiator), I have decided to make soup for lunches this week, starting with carrot and coriander. Why carrot and coriander? Well, I accidentally ordered two kilos of carrots in my weekly Ocado shop, so need to use some up (carrot cake was also tempting me).

As I have so many carrots, I might try and introduce them into my rosti recipe. I tried making a potato rosti a few years ago and for no reason I can remember it was an utter disaster: burnt on the outside, raw on the inside, and the potato had turned a strange grey colour.

I don’t know what possessed me to try and make them again a few weeks ago, but they were a resounding success, and so I have been playing around with the basic recipe to get some extra veg into our meals. Thanks to a glut of courgettes in the fridge due to the generosity of my friend Jane (and her success at cultivating them in the allotment) I included them in my latest rosti and they were delicious.

Courgette and potato rosti – makes 4 (2 each is a good portion)

2 medium sized potatoes, 1 courgette, 1 egg ,salt and pepper, oil

Firstly, grate your potatoes and courgettes.

Then, put the grated veg into a piece of kitchen towel and squeeze it over the sink to get out as much moisture as you can (it’s surprising how much liquid comes out of both potatoes and courgettes).

Put the squeezed veggies into a bowl and add one whole egg and salt and pepper, then mix well.

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and when moderately hot, divide the grated veg into four mounds in the pan and flatten down.

Turn the heat down low and gently fry the rostis for five minutes on each side until they are lightly golden (they are a bit tricky to flip but if they do break up a bit it doesn’t matter – just squish them back together again).

Then I turn the heat up a little more and further brown the rostis for another minute each side so they are dark golden in colour.

Serve with smoked haddock, a poached egg and hollandaise sauce:

Or plaice with lemon and capers:

Or (last night’s favourite) salmon with tomatoes and capers:

I am not planning to have rostis for dinner this week although they may well sneak onto the list. I do plan to have:

• Monday – our meat free option of stuffed peppers (can we eat a meat free meal without drowning it in cheese? We’ll see!)
• Tuesday – ham, egg and homemade chips (or rosti?!) … using the stock from my boiled ham to make pea and ham soup for lunches for the rest of the week
• Wednesday – sausage pasta bake
• Thursday – shepherd’s pie
• Friday – plaice with lemon and capers
• Saturday – char siu buns
• Sunday – beef shin stew and dumplings (unless the weather warms up)

What are you planning for dinner this week?