Crispy potato pancakes with bacon salad: A flavor upgrade
It's often challenging to convince potato pancake enthusiasts to add toppings. How can one wait for sauce or salad when these pancakes taste best straight from the frying pan? Clever solutions come to the rescue—this time in the form of a simple salad and a bacon sprinkle that's worth the wait.
To make crispy potato pancakes, paying attention to a few details is essential. The most important is choosing the right potatoes. Avoid new potatoes—despite being in season, they won't work in the batter due to their high water content. Opt for B or C type potatoes with moderate or higher starch content.
How to grate potatoes for potato pancakes?
This is one of those topics that can spark a debate around the table. Some prefer pancakes with potatoes grated on coarse holes, while others don't like the visible texture. I know people who grate potatoes to a pulp for a more uniform batter. However, if crispiness is your goal, there's a greater chance of success with coarse holes on the grater.
Additionally, splashing the potatoes with a little lemon juice will keep the batter bright and add acidity that contributes to crispier pancakes. If you don't have lemon, a small amount of vinegar will do.
Potato pancakes on a green salad
For the salad, I suggest adding a light dressing made of olive oil and lemon juice. If you're craving a more pronounced flavor, a yogurt dressing with fresh herbs works great too.
Ingredients:
- 2 pounds of potatoes
- 1 egg
- 3 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
- 1 clove of garlic
- A quarter of a small onion
- Salt and pepper
- Oil for frying
- 3.5 ounces of smoked bacon
- 5 ounces of a mix of arugula and lamb's lettuce
- A handful of sunflower seeds
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 teaspoons of lemon juice
Instructions:
- Peel and wash the potatoes, pat them dry with a paper towel, and grate them using a coarse grater. Immediately splash them with lemon juice to prevent darkening.
- Squeeze out the excess water, add the egg, flour, garlic pressed through a garlic press, and onion grated with a fine grater. Season with salt and pepper to taste, and mix thoroughly with a spoon.
- Cover the entire surface of a pan with oil, and when it's very hot, place the pancakes with a spoon and fry until golden brown—first on one side, then the other.
- In a separate pan, fry the diced smoked bacon until crispy.
- On a plate, arrange the arugula and lamb's lettuce, mix with sunflower seeds, and drizzle with a light dressing of olive oil and lemon juice.
- Place the potato pancakes on the salad and sprinkle with the fried bacon.
