Hi folks, today I’m slacking off and generally being very lazy. Fear not though – I’ve asked my dear wife to step in and fill in for me though with a well-loved Swedish dish! Different nationalities will know these, or something similar, by other names, but for Swedes they are “raggmunkar”, and they’re awesome!
I’ll waste no time at all in leaving you in her capable hands, but I felt I must first mention that this isn’t the most photogenic dish… hopefully you’ll trust me when I say they’re delicious, and if you don’t have confidence in me then perhaps you’ll trust the opinion of my son whose hand you can see sneaking into the photo down below!
~~~
So, as the saying goes; behind every food blogger, there’s a neglected spouse eating cold but perfectly styled food.
That’s not quite the case here though. As luck would have it, I too love food. When growing up my father was a chef and restaurant owner and if my childhood home didn’t smell of sweet tomato sauce and grilled vegetables, then it was just because there was bread raising on the kitchen counter or fish being cleaned over the sink. Later on Charles would woo me with similar dishes; spicy and flavourful, cooked to perfection.
Now, I bet you all have some things you’re wondering…
Yes, the food Charles cooks is indeed as tasty as it looks. Yes, he does wash up. (In fact, he’s one of those people who can’t go to bed if there’s a dirty plate in the sink.) And, yes, he does let me cook sometimes. People always ask me this question, some even sounding quite concerned, and I always wonder if they’d still be wondering if our gender roles were reversed?
My food is often met with high praise such as “filling”, “perfectly edible” and, on occasion, “with a few twists, it would be quite good”. My high claim to fame is that nothing goes in the trash; whether this can be attributed to food quality or both of us having been raised by parents who don’t believe in food waste, I’ll leave up to you.
Anyway, it’s with great interest — and a bit of pride — that I’ve watched his blog grow. I’ve read every comment and, in a way, feel like I’ve gotten to know a lot of the ‘regulars’. And so, even though I’m not a blogger, I’ve finally given in to Charlie’s request that I write up a post for him.
Now that you’re all really tempted to try out one of “my” recipes, here we go!
Raggmunkar (Swedish Potato Pancakes)
Ingredients
- 4 medium sized potatoes
- 200 ml Milk
- 70 g Plain flour
- 1 egg
- A pinch of salt
- Butter for frying
Instructions
- Mix the salt and flour in a large bowl, then add half the milk. Whisk until smooth before adding the rest of the milk and the egg.
- Peel and grate the potatoes, then mix in with the batter.
- Melt some butter in the pan, then place some batter into the pan as you would with regular pancake. (4 slightly heaped tbsps of batter for each pancake is a good "rule"). Press the pancakes down so they're quite flat, and when well done on one side, flip and cook on the other side. They should be brown and a little bit crispy on the edges.
- While ideally served with a tart lingonberry jam. a grated carrot salad and bacon, you can also enjoy these with other savoury toppings which are more local to you.
Charles says
These rock! Would have rocked even more if someone hadn’t used all the lingonsylt in her porridge :p.
Raymund says
I never had one of those, I feel like its a gnocchi pancake. I need to try this one
The Wife says
Or if someone had bought more lingon berry jam when he went shopping! 😉
A_Boleyn says
Welcome, “The Wife”. 🙂
It’s great to see your guest posting and with a dish that should appeal to everyone because who doesn’t like potatoes? William certainly seems to agree with me based on that chubbly little hand reaching for one of his mum’s pancakes. I don’t have lingonberry jam so I guess raspberry jam will have to do in a pinch when I make them.
Over the years, potato pancakes or patties have been one of my failures whether they’re called potato latkes or raggmunkar. I never know whether the potatoes should be cooked first and then grated or grated first and then have the onion, flour, milk etc added. Whatever I try seems NOT to work and I usually get partially raw potatoes, or potato mush that’s at least cooked, though sometimes it’s a bit charred.
The Wife says
Thank you! I’ve had similar problems in the past. I think the trick is to make them quite thin and to not cook them on too high a heat.
What amazes me is that back when my great grand-mother was cooking these, she must have had half a dozen kids tugging at her skirt, plus she was working with a temperamental wood stove!
Maureen | Orgasmic Chef says
So pleased to meet you and your raggmunkar sound wonderful. One question. When we grate the potatoes, do we need to squeeze the juice before adding them to the batter?
The Wife says
Thank you! No need to squeeze out the water.
Chica Andaluza says
Hello and thanks for a great recipe. Anything with potato ticks all my boxes 🙂 And I had to smile at your words about eating perfectly styled but cold food – my partner would certainly relate to that!
The Wife says
The rule is that he gets to photograph his own food.
It means I get the less visually pleasing pieces, but hey; it tastes just as good and it’s warm! 😉
Helene D'souza says
Nice to meet you Charle’s wife. =)
Never heard of Raggmunkar (how do you pronounce it?) but they do look very tempting. Oh yes with lingonberry jam!! For sure the best way to enjoy them and right now I can only fantasize here. =P Hope my mum will send me some of the jam to savor your Raggmunkar completely!
The Wife says
Uhm, not sure how to describe the pronunciation… like it’s written pretty much? If you can’t find a tart jam, fried bacon will do very nicely on its own.
Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says
“behind every food blogger, there’s a neglected spouse eating cold but perfectly styled food” — Haha, what a great intro! Surpassed only by the image of William’s fingers reaching out for one of your delightful cakes (how sweet is that?). You know, I love the idea of potato pancakes and am a bit ashamed to say I have not yet made them. I spent a lot of time hanging out with a Jewish family when I was in university and they frequently treated me to potato latkes – so delicious – I’ve been wanting to try my hand at making these amazing pancakes ever since. I love the simplicity of your recipe and the cakes look so appetizing too – golden delicious, perfect inspiration. So nice to have you doing a guest post for us! Please don’t wait too long to come back and visit us again. Thank you “The Wife” & Charles ;-).
The Wife says
Thank you! As I mentioned to someone else, the hand-photo wasn’t staged at all. Willy is always underfoot when we’re in the kitchen and I guess this time he decided to investigate further what daddy was making such a fuss over…. 😉
Hotly Spiced says
How nice to have a co-blogger in the family. I love the shot of Wee William’s hand. I often wonder what his first language is going to be and how many languages he’s learning. Is he at all confused? I love potato cakes and while a Swedish potato cake/fritter is new to me, I’m sure these are something I would very much enjoy xx
The Wife says
So far he’s only fluent in gibberish and the two words he does know — mama and dada — are pretty language neutral. We hope he’ll learn both Swedish and English though without too much confusion.
The photo of the hand was completely unstaged by the way — his grubby little paw just found it’s way to the shiny plate (and the less interesting food resting on top of it ;-)) by itself.
Marta@What should I eat for breakfast today says
Charles, your wife is a lucky gal, first father the chef and then husband who cooks and wash dishes 🙂 I want to be her! 🙂
The Wife says
Oh, I would never let luck decide something like that for me. Careful research, investigation and testing was involved!
Marta@What should I eat for breakfast today says
hahaha, perfect answer!
mjskit says
It is SO nice to meet the woman behind the scenes and the woman that gives boxes of assorted meats for anniversary gifts! I really need to drop that hint to my husband. 🙂 I love your raggmunkar! As I was reading through the recipe I was thinking how good these would be topped with some roasted green chile and cheese and then maybe an egg on top of that. Of course I would first follow your suggestion and try some homemade jam. I’ve never had a potato type cake with jam before and it sounds quite interesting. A wonderful post and I hope we get to see you again.
The Wife says
Thank you!
If you do decide to serve them with jam, try and find a nice tart one. Though, I think chile, cheese and egg sounds far more delicious than jam (tart or sweet!) could ever be — I’ll be trying that myself next time we make these!
Kristy says
Indeed there is a spouse (and sometimes kids) behind every blogger eating cold, but perfectly styled food. LOL! Mr. N always requests the styled plate. 🙂 I’m so happy you’ve decided to post for us. These potato pancakes look delicious and I know they would be a favorite here. They are very close to one of the very first dishes I ever cooked. I’m certain mine were less flavorful though (I didn’t know about seasoning when I was 11). Still, mom and dad ate every last bite. I haven’t made them since I was a kid. I should teach our little ones to make them (with seasoning). Perhaps they’ll make them up for Mike and I one day too. And if the little hand reaching up to grab one isn’t reason enough to try these!!! Great post. 🙂
The Wife says
Ah, see, here Charles gets to eat the cold, styled plate while I tuck into some delicious hot food. When it comes to suffering for the art, I’m of the firm belief that it should be done by the artist… 😉
Grated onion and chopped anchovies goes very well with these, but as we were gonna share the meal with Willy we just made plain ones.
Laura (Tutti Dolci) says
So nice to meet you and be introduced to Charles’ other half ;). These pancakes look so tasty!
The Wife says
Thanks! It’s perhaps not what you’d serve for Sunday dinner… but you gotta eat the other days of the week too! 🙂
Anneli (Delicieux) says
Raggmunkar – such a great word and so tasty too! I blogged myself not too long ago and I completely know what you mean about them not being too pretty. (yours looks much neater and prettier than mine did by the way) I like mine with a fried egg on too – a great filling breakfast.
Lovely to read your blog ‘The Wife’ – hope you do it again soon xx
betsyb says
Well these look truly delicious and surely William’s little hand reaching for one must be testament to that! I love the idea of the lingonberry jam if you can find it, and wonder if these might also be good with applesauce (like Latkes), too? I wish I could say my shots were perfectly styled, but yes, my husband has had his share of waiting to eat while shots were taken, LOL. So nice to “meet” you! 🙂
Eva Taylor says
Welcome “The Wife”, what a lovely recipe you’ve decided to share with us; I really enjoy seeing how different cultures take a similar dish and adapt it to their own. I’ve made potato latkas and Rösti potatoes but I’ve not made potato pancakes like these, but you bet I will. I can certainly see them served with smoked salmon and a good dollop of crème fraiche and some fresh dill, of course. Or for the sweeter side perhaps a good spoonful of ricotta and runny berry jam. Yum.
Charles, you made me laugh out loud with your ‘behind every food blogger…’ bit, very clever and sadly quite true. But like you, hubby gets his warm while mine becomes the diva for the photos!
Coffee and Crumpets says
Yay! We Finally get to meet The Wife! Nice to meet you and congrats on a wonderful first post! I think you are more than capable of having your own blog and giving Charles a run for his money!
You had me at potatoes, and what better than potato pancakes and with lingonberry jam, oh my!
I hope we get to see some more of your recipes, if they are anything like this one, I’ll be a happy camper.
Nazneen
The Wife says
Thank you! Nice to meet you too. Maybe one day I’ll have my own blog… I’ll call it three euro food and steal all of Charlie’s readers! 😉
Kitchen Belleicious says
love potato pancakes! mIne always tend to not be crispy enough though without actually burning so I will have to try your recipe the next time!
The Wife says
Frying them twice is also an option. Once to get them done, the second time to get them nice and crispy!
GourmetGetaways says
LOL!
I read this comment out loud to Mr GG “behind every food blogger, there’s a neglected spouse eating cold but perfectly styled food”. Obviously it is at least a little bit true.
I am so pleased you come out of hiding and shared this recipe, it looks so delicious… I love the cute little pudgy hand in the photo too.
The Wife says
There is something about knuckle dimples on babies and toddlers… 😉 Thanks for commenting and sorry about the late reply!
Sissi says
Potatoes are not as humble as most people think. They offer endless possibilities, even in such a restricted category as a pancake. These pancakes look fabulous and so different from all those I have ever had! Excellent post! I see you both have an extraordinary sense of humour. It must be so much fun to be your guest: wonderful food and lots of laugh!
The Wife says
Well, you’re welcome to join us for dinner anytime! 😉 Sorry it took so long to reply, the little troll has been keeping me busy.
Jean | DelightfulRepast.com says
It was great to hear from The Wife! And these pancakes with lingonberry jam, grated carrot salad and bacon sound like a real treat. Wish I had a plate right now!
The Wife says
Thanks! The sweet, tart and salty flavors work really well together.
Sawsan@ Chef in disguise says
“behind every food blogger, there’s a neglected spouse eating cold but perfectly styled food”
You had me laughing out loud at this one and thinking of my poor kids 🙂
It is a pleasure to see a guest post by you and I have to say that the picture of William’s little hand is just precious!
I can’t wait to try these as I just know they will be an instant hit at my house
Karen (Back Road Journal) says
It is so nice to have “the wife” do a such a lovely post. I feel I already know you a little by your occasional comments to Charles or one of us in the comment section. I do like these lovely little potato cakes with their crispy edges that taste of butter. 🙂 Hope you share a few of your other specialties in the future.
nipponnin says
I enjoyed reading this post. Very charming story. I wonder if I could persuade my husband to make this for breakfast tomorrow.
Charles says
Mm, if he does, tell him to make a fried egg on the top! Yum!