Potato, Parsnip and Smoked Bacon Rosti

I had a battle of wills with this blog post - I have four recipes to bring you and really couldn't decide which to post first!

These Rosti were more fridge surprise, than a planned meal, as I had one lonely baking potato, a bag of parsnips I had bought reduced and some bacon leftover from breakfast, in my head it made sense and I'm glad I made them! The flavours all worked well together and also I got to play with my new coarse grater from Jamie Oliver's range, it did a fantastic job and made light work of the grating, normally a job I try to avoid! I currently have several well used and loved microplane graters, including a coarse one but I prefer the size of the grated item using this, as it made nice big curls and was perfect for Rosti's.

I made four Rosti out of the mixture, though think was a bit over generous with filling the shaping rings, as were very fiddly to turn over! I think the mix would make 8 thinner ones happily and be a bit more crispier.

Ingredients:

3 rashers smoked bacon
1 baking potato, about 200g, coarsely grated
1 large parsnip, coarsely grated
½ white onion, coarsely grated

Few pinches fresh Thyme leaves

Tbsp grana padano, grated

1/4 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, about 8 twists/ 1/4 tsp

Firstly, using a large frying pan to cook the bacon rashers until crispy, remove the pan from the heat and drain the bacon on kitchen paper, once cool enough to handle roughly chop and reserve to one side

Next up, grate the potato, unpeeled into a clean tea towel, wring out well and place in a mixing bowl:

Then grate the parsnip and add to the potato mix:

Add the bacon, thyme, grated onion and cheese to the bowl, season and mix well:

Pre-heat the oven to 170 fan/ 190 and line a baking tray

Return the frying pan to the hob and heat to medium temperature, add a drop of olive oil and either using metal cooking rings or by free-form, spoon a couple of tbsp of the rosti mix into rounds, cook for about 4 minutes, gently turn over using a fish-slice or similar tool, and fry for a couple more minutes until golden, transfer to the baking tray and bake for a further 10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. They will stick a little so do be careful turning! Crispy bits are good though so do not fear!

The pictures are not flattering, the dark nights and kitchen lighting do not make much shine, however they do taste great so thats all that matters surely?!

I served the rosti alongside sausages, though even on their own would be good! Following working two  night shifts, my brain had gone a bit crazy and I did make alongside them a spiced apple compote, unfortunately I couldn't get the flavours quite right so it was abandoned, though will attempt again at some point as thinking it may make a nice sauce for them..