The Full Swiss

The English in me loves a breakfast, particularly a Full English, but Switzerland has taught me about rösti — the hash brown of kings and the king of hash browns. When I first arrived here, the ease and novelty of the pre-shredded rösti packs you can buy in every supermarket certainly pulled me into the world of fried potatoes, but the texture, togetherness and satisfaction of spending a little longer on your weekend mornings — and let's be honest it's really not that long — grating the potatoes yourself, is certainly worth it when it comes to the taste challenge.

To make things a little more Swiss and certainly more indulgent, there has to be a little melted cheese in the mix, and in Switzerland it would be a sin to stray from raclette. Topped with a few eggs, which on slicing open will unleash runny yolk onto and through the crispy potatoes, plus some well-cooked streaky bacon for the salty, crunchy overkill — this one really does get the crown.

Ingredients

• 3 eggs
• 120g bacon
• 350g potatoes
• 1 onion
• 2 tranches of raclette

Preparation

• Grate the potatoes and onion, squeezing out as much water as possible before putting them in a mixing bowl.
• Finely dice the raclette and add to the potatoes. Season well, then sprinkle with smoked paprika and a little olive oil before mixing it all together.
• Fry the bacon until cooked to your liking, then remove and set aside on kitchen paper. Remove some oil from the pan, but leave a little for the rösti.
• Put the potato mix in the pan and spread it flat. I use a low-sided pancake pan, which isn't essential but helps. Cook for 6 minutes, sliding knobs of butter under the edges after 3 minutes.
• Turn the rösti over — using a plate helps — and add a few more knobs of butter.
• Make three wells with the back of a spoon. Crack an egg into each of the wells, and place a lid over the pan to help the eggs cook.
• Slide everything onto a plate, add the bacon between the eggs, and serve with a fresh glass of orange juice. Eat and enjoy.