Cozy up this winter with some potato pancakes

Chef Zane Holmquist shares his unique take on a great seasonal brunch dish

Video: Delicious winter brunch

Transcript of: Delicious winter brunch

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NATALIE MORALES reporting: This morning in TODAY'S HOLIDAY KITCHEN , a hearty brunch. And we scoured the ski slopes of Deer valley , Utah , to find chef Zane Holmquist at the Stein Eriksen Lodge , and he's here to make one of the most popular items on his menu. Zane , good morning.

Mr. ZANE HOLMQUIST: Good morning.

MORALES: And I 've had brunch at the Stein Eriksen .

Mr. HOLMQUIST: You have.

MORALES: It's absolutely amazing. And I know that this is sort of the signature dish here, right?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: This is one of ours. So it's grated...

MORALES: Norwegian potato pancakes , right?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Norwegian potato pancakes . Grated potato.

MORALES: Mm-hmm.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Very easy. And I 've cooked some bacon.

MORALES: OK.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And we've diced our bacon. And an onion, about equal parts bacon and onion.

MORALES: Onion. OK.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And then a little flour and some herbs, some parsley and chives. And then we have egg whites .

MORALES: Egg whites .

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And we just fluff it just a little bit . And...

MORALES: All right.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: ...we make a very simple potato pancake .

MORALES: So no cheese in this yet?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Not yet.

MORALES: Yeah.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We're going to save the cheese for the end.

MORALES: For the topping.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And if you want to make it without the bacon, you can, but it's just not quite the same.

MORALES: So the egg whites just kind of glues it all together.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: It does. A little egg white and a little flour helps pull this all together.

MORALES: And you use an ice cream scoop. That's a good way to do it.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And I like the ice cream scoop. You make nice even sides.

MORALES: Right.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And you get a couple of these going. And these are going to cook for about three to four minutes on each side.

MORALES: And you flatten them down to get them cooking.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We are going to -- just going to -- we are going to get them going. And then we move on to our pancakes that are cooking.

MORALES: Looks great.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: So we've had these going for just a few minutes. And we want to have nice golden brown , kind of a rustic -- a rustic look.

MORALES: Until the potato is really kind of cooked in there.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Exactly. We've already cooked the potato, so we're going to just brown it up and give it that hash brown look.

MORALES: Brown it up. That golden look.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And then...

MORALES: OK.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: All right. We're going to make our cheese sauce.

MORALES: And this is with Jarlsberg cheese , right?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Jarlsberg cheese . It's a Norwegian cheese similar to a Swiss. It's going to have holes in it. But we have a little cornstarch and a little cold water just so we can kind of hold this sauce together.

MORALES: All right.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And we're going to add that to our sauce. We want to make sure this comes up to a boil.

MORALES: That just kind of thickens up the whole sauce.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: It is. This is -- this is our milk and this is our cream. And then we're going to add our Jarlsberg . We've grated it. And you can find Jarlsberg at most markets or a cheese store.

MORALES: Yeah. And I can tell you, loading up before you go out on the slopes, this is the perfect meal for that, right?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Well, that's the -- it's got plenty of calories...

MORALES: Hearty.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: ...to get you through a cold ski day.

MORALES: Exactly.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And...

MORALES: Or a day like today, where it's raining here or blizzards across the country.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Raining here and snowing in Utah . We have great snow already.

MORALES: All right.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And so I make a cheese sauce. And I 'm going to use a little pepper.

MORALES: A pinch of salt.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: And a bit of our salt.

MORALES: And I see you have fresh nutmeg there. Grate that in.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We are. We're going to use our little nutmeg grater and we're going to grate just a little nutmeg.

MORALES: Ooh. That sounds amazing.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: Don't want to grate your finger with that. And you have Jarlsberg cheese sauce.

MORALES: There you go. So you thicken it up. Let's see how it's plated here.

ANN CURRY, anchor: Hi.

MORALES: We're going to serve it up.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: How are you?

CURRY: I just thought I'd come join you guys.

MORALES: Ann Curry. And we have -- you actually do a little side of cranberry sauce ?

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We made -- we made our -- we made our cranberry sauce ; cranberries, sugar, lemon, a little bit of orange...

MORALES: Orange zest.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: ... salt and pepper . And then we've taken our pancakes and they're ready to go.

MORALES: There you go.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: So you can kind of hold them warm. And then we wanted to...

MORALES: We're running out of time , but...

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We poached our egg.

MORALES: Beautiful.

CURRY: Oh, look at that.

Mr. HOLMQUIST: We poached our egg. And then our cranberries.

Show transcript

TODAY recipes

updated 12/9/2009 10:39:47 AM ET

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Looking for a hearty dish that’s perfect for a winter brunch? Try Zane Holmquist’s Norwegian potato pancake recipe. Not only does it satisfy hungry skiers before they hit the slopes, it’s one of the most popular items on the menu at the Stein Eriksen Lodge in Park City, Utah.

Recipe: Norwegian potato pancake with poached eggs, Jarlsberg cheese sauce and cranberry relish (on this page)

Recipe: Norwegian potato pancake with poached eggs, Jarlsberg cheese sauce and cranberry relish

Zane Holmquist

Ingredients

Norwegian potato pancake
4 Idaho potatoes (parboiled, peeled and grated)
1/2 small yellow onion
4 bacon strips (cooked and diced)
1 egg white
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon fresh chives (chopped)
1 teaspoon fresh Italian parsley (chopped)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon ground fresh black pepper
Jarlsberg cheese sauce
1 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup whole milk
2 teaspoons cornstarch
4 teaspoons cold water
2 cups Jarlsberg cheese (grated)
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1 pinch ground nutmeg
Cranberry relish
1 1/2 cups whole fresh cranberries
1 cup granulated sugar
Zest of 1/2 orange
1 pinch kosher salt
Poached eggs
One egg per person
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons vinegar

Preparation

Norwegian potato pancake
1. Boil potatoes in salted water for 12 minutes; cool to room temperature, peel and grate.

2. Peel and dice onion.

3. Cook bacon and dice. Onions and bacon should be diced to equal size.

4. Combine potatoes, onion and bacon.

5. Whip egg whites until foamy; fold into potato mixture.

6. Mix flour, chives, parsley, salt and pepper into potato combination. Be sure not to overwork; the potatoes should keep their grated texture.

7. Scoop potato mixture onto lightly oiled pancake griddle with 2-ounce ice-cream scoop and cook until lightly browned on both sides; approximately 3-4 minutes per side.

Jarlsberg cheese sauce
1. Bring cream and milk to a simmer.

2. Mix cornstarch and water together to make a slurry.

3. Add cornstarch slurry to simmering milk and cream. (You must bring the cream to a boil, to activate the cornstarch.)

4. Slowly add in grated Jarlsberg cheese, continually stirring until a smooth saucelike consistency. (Use caution; the cheese sauce can burn easily.)

5. Add salt, white pepper and nutmeg.

6. Keep sauce warm until ready to serve.

Cranberry relish
1. Mix cranberries, sugar, orange zest and salt together in a bowl.

2. Place in a thick-bottom saucepan; bring to a low simmer.

3. Stirring occasionally, cook for 12 minutes, or until the mixture is a jamlike consistency.

Poached eggs
Poach one egg per person in 2 quarts of water with 2 tablespoons of vinegar, until desired doneness. Place poached egg on potato pancake. Add 2-3 tablespoons of cheese sauce over the egg.

Serving

Garnish plate with 1 large tablespoon of cranberry relish. Finish with chopped parsley and serve immediately. The tart cranberry relish lightens the intense flavor of the Jarlsberg cheese. The dish’s primary component is the potato cake. This is a perfect Sunday brunch dish.