Steak and Rösti Potatoes

When you’re in the mood for steak and potatoes, and you want to do it right, what’s the best and fastest way to put it together? Baked potatoes can take up to an hour, mashed potatoes can take up to 45 minutes, and by the time you get your deep fryer oiled up and ready to go, another 30 minutes has gone by. So, what can you do with a potato, in less than 20 minutes, that will add that “wow” factor to your steak? Rösti.

Rösti, is what happens when you shred potatoes, shape them into a pancake, and fry them on a skillet with a little salt and olive oil. What you end up with is a golden brown, perfectly crispy potato base on which to lay down your steak. It’s really something beautiful. And you can make them fast!

There is an important technicality, however. And that is the shape of the shred. Most cheese shredders make flat shreds, and when the potato shreds pile on top of each other, they insulate themselves from the heat in your skillet, causing the outside of your rösti to possibly burn while the inside is raw. In this scenario you have to cook them at a much lower temperature, making the process take longer. Solution? For best results in 2o minutes, you should shred your potato into the shape of thin spaghetti.

There are three machines that I know of that can do this:

1. A spiral slicer.

2. A mandolin with a rosti blade.

3. A Börner combi chef stainless steel box grater. These are hard to come by and highly recommended. I use this to make rösti.

Once you have the peeled potatoes shredded into the shape of thin spaghetti, you simply spread and press them into a hot, lightly oiled skillet (no thicker than 1/2 inch) and fry them for 10 to 15 minutes (flipping them over every couple of minutes) until you get a golden brown, crispy crust. Sprinkle with salt and pepper before serving, and enjoy with a million different toppings – in this case, I topped the rösti with a skillet-seared NY strip loin steak, with sauteed diced peppers, onions, portobello mushroom, asparagus, garlic, and a dab of sour cream!

You can plan to make about 2 peeled medium-sized potatoes per rösti. Baking potatoes, and Yukon gold potatoes work well.  Each rösti will serve 1 hungry guy, or two people with normal apetites.