Recipe review: Rosti

This has been called the national dish of Switzerland. I chose to use Switzerland for a school project on a comparative look at health care policies. Recently, I received an invitation to a pot luck of sorts with every invited student was asked to bring a dish from their selected country. This got the wheels turning in my head and I wanted to come up with something that wasn't cheesy and expected, like fondu. That's when I found cheese rosti on the All Recipes website.

6 large potatoes
6 table spoons butter
8 ounces swiss cheese, grated
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
2 table spoons hot water

Cook potatoes in boiling water until tender but still firm, about 15 minutes. Drain and let cool. Once cool, peel and grate. Melt 3Tbs butter in a large non stick skillet. Add a layer of potatoes and a layer of cheese, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Repeat layers. Dot each layer with remaining butter. Sprinkle hot water over the top layer, cover and saute at low to medium heat until bottom layer browns. Turn with spatula and brown the other side.

For recipe modifications I used frozen hash brown shreds (thawed) due to a lack of time. I also used white pepper instead of black pepper, which produces a more mild flavor and is less visible in a dish.

No photos on this one. The recipe didn't turn out picture perfect, but it was pretty delicious and worthy of another try. I will make several changes to my process in hopes that the rosti sticks together and comes out in one piece instead of turning out like cheesy hash browns!