I’ll be brief today as I am really not feeling my best and all I want to do is curl up in bed and sleep, if I am honest. I’ve been trying to resist getting a cold all through Xmas and I really thought I got away with it until now. Today I feel as though my head is full of spaghetti hoops (for the uninitiated, it’s tinned pasta and tomato sauce), which I have never actually eaten. Call me a snob, but I would only consider eating that kind of thing in near apocalyptic circumstances…
Before I tuck myself in with a book and some paracetamol, I have a simple recipe for you that I’ve been working on before the symptoms got the better of me. I decided to come up with a fool proof way to make crispy hash browns stroke latkes (latkesh if you like 🙂 ) in the oven, using only a small amount of oil. While fried latkes are definitely to die for, frying things is a bit of a faff, plus as they are mightily addictive, they are certainly prone to wreck all your attempts at healthy January eating. Over the past 2 days, I have made a ridiculous number of these potato cakes, two or three at a time, and consumed them for pretty much all of my meals – such is the joy of food blogging. While the ingredients could not be simpler, it took me many many attempts to arrive at the optimal oven temperature, decide if the mixture benefits from the addition of flour, aquafaba, ground flax or parboiling potatoes! Finally, I’ve settled on two versions below. I roped Duncan into the final stages of taste testing and while he thinks (he hoovered them up too quickly to be sure 😉 ) he prefers the version with the raw potato mixture, I prefer the one with the parboiled potatoes, so I’ve decided to include both. They are both very crispy – surprisingly so given how little oil I’ve used and my preferred version is a touch softer / mashier inside. They go well with vegan sour cream, ketchup or guacamole. They will also make a fine vegan breakfast, served alongside some garlicky spinach and jammy, oven-roasted tomatoes, for example. Enjoy while I am off to have a nap…
