You say potato......

Everyone seems to love rosti/potato cakes and today's recipe uses them as the basis for a dish that can have many incarnations. In my version, I have included some lovely new season zucchini to add extra flavour and lovely flecks of green colour, as well as beautiful smoked trout that transforms the dish into something special.  It makes an indulgent breakfast or brunch, but is also suited as an entree or starter, or even finger food if you scale down the size. You can also omit the trout and substitute grilled vegetables such as asparagus or zucchini for a lovely vegetarian dish. Whilst the dish may look a bit fiddly, it is actually very quick and easy to put together. I really love smoked trout and that is what I have used today, but if you are a fan of smoked salmon then it is a good substitute.

A note about the rosti technique - to ensure that your rosti is cooked correctly, it is important to follow the technique in the recipe below for removing as much moisture out of the mixture as possible. Don't be tempted to omit this step, or your rosti could fall apart and be unpleasantly soggy, causing the cook to swear loudly and have to start over. We don't want that, so use the "teatowel technique" to avoid any problems.

Here it is......

Potato and Zucchini Rosti with smoked trout and minted yoghurt

You will need: (for the rosti) 2 raw whole potatoes, 2 small or 1 medium zucchini, 1 egg, 1 tablespoon plain flour, dash of tabasco sauce, salt, pepper. Oil for frying. 100g smoked trout or smoked salmon.
(for the dressing) 2 tablespoons thick continental style yoghurt, 1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh mint leaves, extra mint to serve.

Method: First, combine the yoghurt and mint for the dressing and set aside in the fridge.

Grate the potato and the zucchini and place in the middle of a clean cotton teatowel (you can also use clean muslin or cheesecloth too, but a teatowel works just as well) Twist the teatowel up so that the ingredients are contained in a tight bundle. Hold over the sink and squeeze really hard to get as much moisture out of the potato and zucchini as possible.

Place the potato and zucchini in a bowl with the egg, flour, tabasco, a generous pinch of salt and a good seasoning of pepper. Using a fork, mix until well combined. The mixture will be quite loose - don't be concerned, it is how it is meant to be.

Heat a frypan (non-stick is good) and add a shallow layer of oil. Add a soup spoon of the rosti mixture to the pan and gently shape/flatten them to form pikelet size fritters. Cook the rosti in batches of 3 or 4, keeping an eye on the heat and turning them a couple of times during cooking. Don't have it blistering hot, or the rosti will be burnt on the outside and raw in the middle. Medium/hot will give you a better result.

Arrange the rosti on the serving plates with a dollop of the yoghurt and a piece of the smoked trout/salmon in between. Finish with a final slice of the trout/salmon and some mint. Serve immediately.

Makes 4 serves

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