Food when we were kids - potato roesti

My mum will be coming to visit on Wednesday for a few days and I want to have some nice things prepared for when she arrives.  I made the base for a coffee walnut cake and some jam donut muffins - all safely stored in the freezer now and ready to be finished off when she's here. 

As I was baking, I thought back to when we were kids and how much patience she must have had to bake and cook for all of us.  I thought the same when I cooked dinner last night because it was something she used to make for us (or at least a variation of it): potato roesti.  I am sure she would have made 30 - 40 of these to feed all of us kids and no doubt they all disappeared within minutes.  Her version, the traditional German "Reibekuchen", contains both flour and eggs but the ones I made last night are just potato, onion and seasoning. 

Both types go extremely well with homemade apple sauce or you could top them with a dollop of sour cream and some smoked salmon.  Delicious! 

We had the traditional apple sauce and black pudding (not everyone's cup of tea but we like it, especially when baked in the oven as it's not greasy at all).

I think they make for a very nice change and go with pretty much anything that normally calls for potatoes as a side dish. 

Potato Roesti (you should probably allow 2 large potatoes per person)

1. To make the roesti, simply grate the peeled potatoes and a little onion into a bowl.
2. Squeeze out some of the water out of the grated potato/onion mix (I just do this by hand over the sink).
3. Season with a good amount of salt and pepper.
4. Heat some oil in a frying pan (ideally non-stick) and drop in dollops of the mixture, flattening it into rounds with a spatula.  They should be about palm-size.
5. Fry for a few minutes, turning every now and again until the roesti are crispy and browned.
6. You can keep these warm in the oven on a plate lined with paper towel (the latter will absorb any excess oil) whilst you finish frying the batch.

These freeze well - simply make a batch as per above, leave to cool and put into a freezer-friendly container or bag.  Defrost before eating and reheat by frying for a couple of minutes in a frying pan.