Potato and Chard Rosti with Fried Eggs and Dill Skyr
A big skillet-sized potato cake with chard and parmesan through it, fried until both faces are crisp, cut into wedges and topped with fried eggs and cold dill skyr.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
There are evenings when dinner needs to be one pan and something with a runny yolk, and this is the one I make. It is a Swiss idea, a great crisp cake of grated potato, and turning it into dinner takes only two things: greens cooked down into the middle, and eggs on top. It goes to the table whole on a board and gets cut into four wedges in front of everyone, which makes a plate of potatoes feel like an occasion. I make it on Sunday nights in winter, and if there are teenagers in the house you will want to grate an extra potato.
Everything here comes down to water. Grated potato holds a startling amount of it, and any of it left in the bowl steams the cake from the inside and gives you something pale and floppy. Salt the shreds, wait ten minutes, then wring them out hard in a clean towel, twice if you can be bothered, and you will be surprised what comes out. The chard gets the same treatment after it wilts. Once both are dry, the cake fries into a proper golden sheet in butter and garlic-infused olive oil, and it holds together well enough to flip in one piece.
Parmesan grated into the mixture melts and glues the shreds together while adding a savory edge that plain potato does not have on its own. The eggs are the point of the meal, two per person, fried until the whites are set with crisp lacy edges and the yolks are still loose, so the yolk runs down into the crisp potato when you cut in. Cold skyr beaten with dill, chives, and lemon goes over the top, and that contrast of cold and tangy against hot and crisp is what makes it dinner rather than a side. It is a lot of food for very little money.
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 lb Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated
- 1 large bunch swiss chard (about 9 oz), stems sliced thin and leaves shredded
- 3/4 cup finely grated parmesan
- 8 large eggs
- 4 tbsp butter, divided
- 2 tbsp garlic-infused olive oil, divided
- 1 cup plain skyr
- 3 tbsp chopped fresh dill
- 2 tbsp chopped chives
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 1/4 tsp fine sea salt, divided
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Instructions
- Grate and salt the potatoes: Peel the potatoes and grate them on the coarse holes of a box grater into a large bowl. Toss with 3/4 teaspoon of the salt and leave for 10 minutes. The salt pulls water out of the shreds, which is the difference between a crisp cake and a soft one, so do not skip the wait.
- Cook and dry the chard: Heat 1 tablespoon of the garlic-infused olive oil in a 12-inch skillet over medium. Cook the chard stems for 3 minutes, add the leaves, and cook 2 minutes more until collapsed. Tip them into a sieve, press hard with the back of a spoon, and let them cool while you deal with the potatoes.
- Wring out the potatoes and mix: Pile the potato shreds into a clean kitchen towel, gather it up, and twist hard over the sink. Wring out as much liquid as you can, then do it again with a dry section of towel. Mix the dry shreds with the chard, the parmesan, the black pepper, and 1/4 teaspoon more salt.
- Fry the first side: Heat 2 tablespoons of the butter and the rest of the oil in the same skillet over medium. Add the potato mixture and press it into an even cake with a spatula. Cook undisturbed for 12 to 14 minutes, lowering the heat if it smells like it is browning fast, until the underside is a solid deep gold sheet.
- Flip and finish: Slide the cake onto a plate, invert the skillet over it, and turn the whole thing back so the raw side is down. Add another tablespoon of butter around the edge and cook 10 to 12 minutes more, until the second face is crisp and a knife goes through the middle easily. Slide it onto a board.
- Eggs, skyr, and serve: Stir the skyr with the dill, chives, lemon juice, and remaining salt. Melt the last tablespoon of butter in the same skillet and fry the eggs over medium heat for about 3 minutes, until the whites are set and the edges are lacy and the yolks are still loose. Cut the cake into four wedges and top each with two eggs and a spoonful of the skyr.
Variations
- Cheddar rosti: Trade the parmesan for grated sharp cheddar for a softer, richer cake with more pull to it.
- Kale and thyme: Use kale in place of the chard and add a tablespoon of fresh thyme to the shreds for a woodsier version.
- Poached rather than fried: Poach the eggs when you want the yolks softer and the plate a little lighter.
- Smoked trout on top: Lay flaked smoked trout over the wedges with the skyr for a richer plate that needs no other cooking.
- Small cakes: Fry four small cakes rather than one large one when you want more crisp surface per person and an easier flip.
Storage & Leftovers
The potato cake keeps for 3 days in the refrigerator, wrapped once it has cooled completely. Wrapping it warm traps steam and softens the crust you worked for. Store the dill skyr separately in a small jar, where it holds for 4 days and thickens slightly as it sits.
Reheat wedges in a dry skillet over medium heat for 4 to 5 minutes a side, or on a sheet pan at 425°F (220°C) for 10 minutes, both of which bring the crust back. Fry the eggs fresh each time, since a reheated fried egg turns rubbery and the runny yolk is half the meal.
Freeze cooled wedges in a single layer for up to 2 months, then reheat straight from frozen at 425°F (220°C) for about 18 minutes. Do not freeze the skyr topping, which splits on thawing and goes grainy, and is quick enough to stir together fresh anyway.
Notes & Tips
- Garlic-infused oil, and why: Garlic flavor is fat-soluble and the parts that upset a sensitive gut are not, so oil infused with garlic carries the taste and leaves the rest in the clove. It is what gives this cake a savory backbone when nothing is chopped into the pan.
- Wring the potatoes twice: The second wring always releases more than you expect, and that water is exactly what would have steamed the middle of the cake.
- Use a heavy 12-inch skillet: Cast iron or heavy steel holds an even heat across the whole base, and a thin pan gives you a cake that is dark in the center and pale at the rim.
- Do not touch it while it fries: Poking and lifting breaks the crust as it forms. Leave it alone for the full twelve minutes and it will release from the pan on its own.
- Cook the eggs last: The cake holds its heat for a good ten minutes on the board, and the eggs are only three minutes of work, so there is no reason to have them waiting.
- Portions around the table: Anyone who wants a bigger plate gets a third egg rather than a bigger wedge, since the cake divides into four and the eggs are the part that fills people up. Hot sauce on the side suits it well.
Nutrition & Mindful Eating
- Crisp potato, wilted chard, and eggs on top work as one plate. The potato gives the substance and the crunch, the chard runs dark and mineral through the middle, and the eggs bring the protein that turns a potato cake into dinner.
- Eggs fried until the whites are lacy and the yolks still run carry complete protein along with choline and the vitamin D in the yolk, which is why two of them anchor a wedge this size.
- Swiss chard cooks down to almost nothing and tastes faintly of the earth it grew in, bringing vitamin K and a little iron into a dish that would otherwise be entirely pale.
- Potatoes grated and fried in butter come out sweet at the crisp edges and soft in the middle, and a plate of them this size brings real potassium and vitamin C along with the comfort.
- Skyr beaten with dill, chives, and lemon is thick and sharply tangy, and that cold spoonful against the hot crust is what keeps a fried dinner tasting fresh.
- As you eat, watch for the moment the yolk breaks into the crisp shreds underneath, and let the noise the crust makes under your fork be a reason to sit down properly for this one.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use a different potato?
Yukon gold is ideal because it sits between waxy and starchy, so the shreds hold their shape and still bind. Russets work and give a fluffier middle with a slightly more fragile cake. Waxy red potatoes hold together well but never quite go as crisp.
My cake fell apart when I flipped it. What went wrong?
Either the first side had not set into a solid sheet yet, or the mixture was still wet. Wait for the underside to release from the pan on its own before you attempt the flip, and use the plate-and-invert method rather than trying to turn it with a spatula.
Can I make it ahead?
You can cook the cake up to a day ahead and reheat it at 425°F (220°C) for about 10 minutes to crisp it again, which is a good trick for a weeknight. Grated raw potato does not hold, though. It goes gray within the hour, so grate it just before it goes in the pan.
Is this enough protein for a dinner?
It is, between eight eggs, the parmesan in the cake, and the skyr on top. It also suits a low-FODMAP dinner, since the savory base here comes from browned potato, parmesan, and garlic-infused oil rather than from the aromatics a rosti would usually be served with.