Potato Parmesan & Garlic Pancake with Spinach Topping

Potato Parmesan & Garlic Pancake with Spinach Topping

This crispy potato and garlic pancake is fried until crisp one side, while sprinkled  liberally with parmesan cheese on the top. Then it’s turned over, cheese side down, to crisp on the bottom while spinach is added to the top. The result is a balanced,  nutritious, flavoursome meal.

It’s easy to make and is an ideal meal for a single diner – you’ll hate to have to give  half of your pancake to a guest, I promise you. This one is all for you.

Ingredients

• 1 egg (free range are best)
• 1 medium potato
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 dessertspoon flour
• 1 tablespoon of virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup of loose packed grated parmesan cheese
• 2 cups of chopped raw spinach or silverbeet

Method

Break egg into a bowl. Peel your potato and grate it into the bowl with the egg. Chop garlic very finely and add to the mixture stirring to coat the potato in egg and stop it from going brown. Add the flour.

Now heat the oil in a large frying pan. Because the ingredients for this dish are very simple, I use a good quality virgin olive oil to give a robust flavour, but a mild olive or coconut oil is just as good if you don’t care for the stronger flavours. Spread your mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. The thinner the mix is spread, the thinner the pancake is, and the better it will crisp.

Once the mixture has been evenly spread in the pan, sprinkle the grated parmesan cheese evenly over the top. As the pancake is crisping on the bottom, the cheese on top will begin to melt.

Once the pancake is crispy brown (not burnt) and the cheese is melted, carefully loosen it from the  bottom of the pan and turn it over, cheese side down. If you don’t trust the pancake to stay in one  piece while you turn it, then slip it on to a plate and turn it back into the pan from the plate.

Now cover the browned pancake with the spinach. I have also used silverbeet or cabbage when I have been short of spinach. When the greens have been spread evenly over the pancake, put a lid on the frying pan, or if like me, you don’t have a lid for the  frying pan, carefully drop a large plate over the top. The idea is to sweat the greens so they become limp and juicy. (see photo) This takes about 5-10 minutes on medium low to medium heat. Keep an eye on it because the cheese can burn if the heat is too high.

When you think the veggies have sweated down sufficiently, lift the lid to check, and also lift the pancake to see if the bottom is crisping. Because you have a lid on the pancake the top will not be crispy anymore, but what happens next will fix that.

Serve Potato, Garlic & Parmesan Pancake with Spinach Topping

Loosen the pancake from the bottom of the pan then drop a plate gently over the top and turn the whole pan upside down onto the plate so that the spinach is now under the pancake on your plate, and the parmesan, beautifully crisped, brown, and fragrant is on the top.

This is delicious with a glass of red wine.

If it happens that you don’t have any greens or would like an alternative, I cook the pancake without the greens and serve it with a garlic, lemon, salt, pepper and avocado guacomole. Fork of pancake, smear of guacamole.

Enjoy!

©Theresa Sjoquist