Food & Drink

Waffled Hash Browns with Rosemary

If I ever open a diner, these are going on the menu. Nothing else. Just these.

You know how when you cook potatoes on the stove top or in the oven you have to stir them to make sure they brown on all sides? Cooking potatoes in the waffle iron ensures that the potato is crisp on both sides without any need for flipping.

Here’s what I learned: Don’t slice the potatoes, shred them. I tried slicing. Putting sliced potatoes in the waffle iron gives you limp potatoes that don’t come together, and they emerge with few signs of being waffled. This was true whether I used raw potatoes or parboiled potatoes. Shredding the potatoes results in a fantastic amount of crunch on the outside and tiny pockets of silky smooth potato inside.

And once you’re in on that secret, it couldn’t be easier.

waffled hashbrowns

Waffled Hash Browns with Rosemary

Print Recipe
Serves: 2 Cooking Time: 20

Ingredients

  • 1 russet (baking) potato, about 10 ounces, peeled and shredded
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon nely chopped fresh rosemary or 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
  • 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
  • 1⁄2 teaspoon freshly ground
  • black pepper
  • 1 teaspoon unsalted butter, melted
  • Grated cheese, sour cream, or ketchup, for serving

Instructions

1

Preheat the waffle iron on medium.

2

Squeeze the shredded potato with a towel until it’s as dry as you can manage. (Excess liquid is the enemy of crispiness; your potatoes will steam if they aren’t dried well.)

3

In a mixing bowl, combine the shredded potato, rosemary, salt, and pepper.

4

With a silicone brush, spread the butter on both sides of the waffle iron.

5

Pile the shredded potatoes into the waffle iron—overstuff the waffle iron a bit—and close the lid. (The pressure of the lid will compress the potatoes and help them emerge as a cohesive, waffled unit.)

6

After 2 minutes, press down a bit on the lid to further compress the potatoes. (Careful: The lid may be hot.) Check the potatoes after 10 minutes. They should be just starting to turn golden brown in places.

7

When the potatoes are golden brown throughout, 1 to 2 minutes more, carefully remove them from the waffle iron.

8

Serve with grated cheese, sour cream, or ketchup.

Excerpted from Daniel Shumski’s bestselling Will it Waffle? (Workman Publishing, 2014).

August 23, 2016 By
About

Daniel Shumski is a writer and editor who has hunted ramen in Tokyo for the Washington Post and tracked down ice cream in Buenos Aires for the Los Angeles Times. Between stints at the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune, he worked for a Midwestern heirloom apple orchard. His first book, Will It Waffle?: 53 Irresistible and Unexpected Recipes to Make in a Waffle Iron, won praise from the New York Times, People magazine, and Food52. He lives in Montreal, where his French is still a work in progress.

No Comments

Leave a Reply