This recipe comes from Bill Granger, a Sydney-based chef who sadly died far too young in 2023 of cancer.
Bill is credited with inventing avocado toast, a breakfast or brunch dish which has become popular not only in Australia, but around the world. My Chilean son-in-law says he’s been eating avocado toast for breakfast all his life and that it’s always been popular in Chile, so maybe Granger didn’t actually invent it. However, he certainly introduced it to Australians.
Bill was a self-taught cook who became a celebrated global restaurateur and food writer with a career spanning over 30 years. Together with his partner Natalie, they built a thriving business that today counts 19 restaurants across Australia, Japan, South Korea and the UK. He wrote 14 cookbooks, selling over one million copies,
Today’s recipe is one of Bill’s signature dishes. Easy, tasty, quick and healthy. What more could you want?
Any leftover potato mixture will keep in the fridge for 24 hours or so. The second photo shows a larger fritter I made the following day. I put the eggs on top and broke them open. In the first photo the eggs are hiding below the smoked salmon.
Fritters:
2 medium to large starchy potatoes (eg Desiree)
1 very small onion or half a larger one
1 egg
1 Tbs chopped mint
2 Tbs crumbled feta cheese (optional)
2 Tbs plain flour
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
2-3 Tbs vegetable oil to fry the fritters
Dill oil:
1 cup loosely packed dill, finely chopped
2 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice and some grated zest
To serve:
4 eggs
2 Tbs sour cream
2 tsp ground sumac
4 slices smoked salmon or trout
Lemon wedges
Peel and coarsely grate the potatoes and onion and place in a colander. Add a good pinch of salt, mix and leave to drain for 20-30 mins. Squeeze out as much moisture as you can with your hands. Mix in remaining ingredients apart from the oil.
Heat oil in a non-stick frying pan. Make fritters using 2-3 heaped tablespoons potato mixture for each one and spreading them out to make each fritter into an oval about 7cm long. At the same time poach the eggs and mix all ingredients for the dill oil.
Serve one fritter per person, topped with two poached eggs, two slices of smoked salmon or trout, a dollop of sour cream and a drizzle of dill oil. Top with a sprinkle of sumac and garnish with a couple of lemon wedges.
Serves 2
Note: if you don’t have sumac – a Middle Eastern spice – use coarsely ground black pepper.
