Teens in the Kitchen: Make an Easy Potato Dish

Summer is the perfect time to work on some life skills for teens, like cooking. This easy potato dish is a great way to get started.

My son has decided to spend more time in the kitchen this summer. As a growing teen boy he already spends quite a bit of time in the kitchen because he seems to be eating non-stop! However, because he likes to try new and different foods he thinks the next few months will be a great time to learn to make some new, tasty dishes.

I get my teens in the kitchen as often as possible so they can help with meal prep and clean up. My son wants to try to be more independent in the kitchen so we found several kid-friendly cookbooks for him to use in the coming months to help develop his culinary skills.

Teens in the Kitchen - Make an Easy Potato Dish - Education Possible

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Teens in the Kitchen

For his most recent kitchen adventure my son chose to make an easy potato dish called “Potato Rosti”, a dish made from grated potatoes that are fried until crispy. Sounded a lot like hash browns to us so we had to try it– yummy!

It just wouldn’t be right to let this “teachable moment” pass us by so we included a brief geography lesson as we were gathering our supplies. After a quick search we learned that Rosti is a potato cake, often served in Switzerland as a side dish with meat of fish, or eaten on its own for breakfast or lunch.

We found this simple, yet very tasty recipe in the Complete Children’s Cookbook by DK. (Disclaimer – We received a copy of this book for free and agreed to share our experiences here with our readers).

Although the title of this cookbook says it’s for “Children” we can easily recommend it for kids of ALL ages. The dishes are interesting and easy to make, and also include some tips for learning new cooking skills.

Teens in the Kitchen: Making Potato Rosti - Education Possible

Potato Rosti – An Easy Potato Dish

Ingredients:

  • 3-4 medium sizes russet potatoes, peeled
  • salt and pepper
  • 4 tbsp olive oil

Teens in the Kitchen - Potato Rosti - Education Possible

Steps:

  • Cut potatoes in half and parboil them for about 7 minutes.
  • Drain potatoes and let them cool completely.
  • Coarsely grate potatoes onto a plate.
  • Transfer potatoes to a clean dish towel to drain out excess liquid.
  • Add salt and pepper to potatoes and mix with a fork.
  • Heat half the oil in a large frying pan. Shape spoonful of grated potato mixture into round cakes and place 4 of them into the pan.
  • Fry the rosti for about 5-10 minutes (or until golden brown and crisp). Turn them over and cook for another 5-10 minutes.
  • Remove from the pan and cook the rest of the mixture in the remaining oil.

Teens in the Kitchen - Steps for Potato Rosti - Education Possible

This recipe was easy to make and very tasty. It also gave us a chance to learn/practice a few important kitchen techniques to add to our ongoing life skills lessons, including:

  • My son learned that parboil means to partially cook.
  • To prepare the potatoes he practiced peeling and cutting.
  • Using the grater took some extra time and concentration so no fingers were injured in the process!
  • We talked about how to safely fry foods in a pan.

Teens in the Kitchen: Make an Easy Potato Dish - Education Possible

This was a great cooking experience!

We thoroughly enjoyed this delicious new potato dish, the instructions in the cookbook were very easy to follow, and I had fun working with my teens in the kitchen. My older son and his friend happened to stop by when the cooking was complete.  The offered to sample the completed dish and quickly gave it two thumbs up. 🙂

I can’t wait to see what interesting dish he selects next week…stay tuned!

Complete Children's Cookbook - DK