February Cheese of the Month Club’s “Rosti” Recipe with a twist- Feb. 2010

This month for our Cheese of the Month Club, we selected two beautiful cheeses from Holland.  Beemster and Van Dyke Chevre Blanc. 

I had to try the Rosti recipe from our newsletter because the Chevre Blanc was amazing and I knew that cooking with it would only bring out all those buttery, salty flavors.

A Rosti, is a Swedish dish, consisting mainly of potatoes. Typically they are fried potatoes, with snippets of cheese.  This recipe called for pancetta, and sage leaves, so  I could not resist.  Who doesn’t love fried cheese, pancetta, and sage?  There is a healthy alternative to this as well.  All the ingredients can be placed in a baking dish or from the frying pan, directly into a hot oven at 350 degrees.  I made the original recipe :)  The results were outrageous.  Great for brunch, or to bring to a friend’s house for lunch, it is easily portable.

I’m assuming you could add a number of things to this recipe as you would a frittata and it would be as delicious, however the Van Dijk Chevre Blanc did make a star appearance in this dish.

Recipe from: Feb. 2010 Newsletter

Goat’s cheese & Pancetta Rosti (a Swiss dish consisting mainly of potatoes)

Ingredients :

Serves 4

2 ½ pounds of medium-sized potatoes

1 onion, finely chopped

½ cup cubed good quality bacon or pancetta

8 fresh sage leaves

½ cup  chèvre blanc

Procedure:

Boil the potatoes in skins for 20-25 minutes, until just tender. Leave to cool, peel, and then coarsely grate into a bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp of olive oil in a medium non-stick frying pan, add the onion and bacon and fry for 7-8 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the onion is softened and lightly tinged with brown. Stir in the sage leaves and remove from the heat. Stir the onion, bacon and any juices left in the pan into the grated potato. Season with salt and pepper and mix well.

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in the frying pan, add half the potato mixture and spread over the pan. Crumble the goat’s cheese into small pieces, then sprinkle evenly over the potatoes. Spread the remaining potato over the top to seal in the cheese and press down lightly with the back of a wooden spoon. Cook the Rösti over a moderate heat for 8 minutes until the underside is nicely browned then put a large plate on top and invert the Rösti onto it. Add another tablespoon of oil to the pan if you need to, then slide the Rösti back into the pan and cook the other side for 8 minutes. Serve the Rösti straight from the pan, cut into wedges, with green vegetables or a big green leaf salad.