GUYS. UGH. My laptop is on the verge of death… Blue screens, never ending “update installations”, the works. I’ve actually had some fun stuff to blog (yummy recipes and a ski trip to Colorado HELLO) but it is so frustrating to even log onto my machine right now I can’t muster the patience and 2+ hours needed to get photos edited and a blog post written. I’m trying to figure out my long term plan but for now you will have to accept my apologies and a crappy blog post from my phone. As if the iphone photos weren’t enough to endure… But I digress.
One of the best places we ate on our recent ski to to Steamboat Springs was the teeny slopeside bar called Tbar. Brandon and I had a delicious (albeit GUTBOMB) lunch of creamy chorizo mac and a beef teriyaki hot pot with steamy broth and lots of rice noodles. We enjoyed our meal (and several beers!) so much, especially since it was the last day of skiing on very tired legs. As good as our food was, we couldn’t help drooling when a hot skillet filled with homemade thick cut hashbrowns topped with soft eggs was carried by. After consulting the menu, we figured out it was the rösti, which per Wikipedia, is a traditional Swiss dish that is essentially a potato pancake made of rough-grated potato.
Here’s now to make a quick, and in this case, vegetarian! version yourself (Although Tbar definitely served it with some kind of pork shoulder or bacon 
This makes a perfect breakfast-for-dinner or lazy weekend brunch on a snowy day – just picture yourself eating it in the Swiss alps and the neverending winter we are experiencing doesn’t seem quite so bad.
1) grate a large russet potato or several small red potatoes with a coarse grater, into a bowl
2) melt a generous portion of butter into a skillet – a cast iron skillet or good non-stick pan is definitely best! I currently do not own either, so I stuck to mini-röstis since they were much easier to flip in my stainless steel fry pan.
3) add grated potato to the pan and form into pancake(s). Let cook for at least 5 minutes before flipping – you want it nice and golden, which is also why a solid chunk of butter is needed to begin with! Continue to fry on the second side until golden brown, remove to a plate.
5) after your rösti(s) fry up, begin cooking your eggs in a separate pan. I cooked 2 by heating a pan sprayed with cooking spray, cracking the eggs in carefully 1 at a time, and letting cook until whites are just cooked. I am horrible at flipping eggs so this next step is crucial – instead of flipping, add about 1 tbsp of water to the hot pan and cover immediately, leaving a small vent for steam to escape. This gets the tops of the egg perfectly steamed while leaving the yolk medium-done and runny, and separates the bottoms from my not-very-non-stick pan.
5) add toppings to your rösti! I added some goat cheese, while Brandon cooked himself some sausage. A little steamed spinach or even diced cherry tomatoes would have made it a perfect meal for me.
6) add your eggs to top the dish, salt and pepper to taste, and dig in!
Don’t forget to pretend you are in the Swiss Alps and I wouldn’t judge pairing it with some hot chocolate with some peppermint schnapps slipped in. Enjoy!
