How to make a Swedish 'pyttipanna' fry-up

Ingredients

900 g (2 lb) cooked potatoes, peeled

150g (5 oz) smoked bacon

150g (5 oz) leftover meat or smoked ham

150g (5 oz) smoked sausage, such as frankfurters

2 onions

1 tbsp oil

1 tbsp butter

1 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tbsp fresh herbs such as parsley, to garnish

4 eggs

Method

1. Roughly dice the peeled potatoes, bacon, meat and sausage into 1 cm cubes. Finely chop the onion.

2. Heat a large non-stick frying pan or wok on medium heat. Add the oil and butter and when foaming add the potatoes and onions and fry until golden brown, stirring occasionally.

3. Meanwhile, heat a separate pan and when hot add the diced bacon. When the bacon fat starts to run add the meat, smoked sausage and fresh thyme. Fry until everything is golden brown, giving it an occasional stir and adjusting the heat if it looks as if it might burn.

4. When the meat is cooked, add to the potatoes and mix thoroughly. Taste and add seasoning. It will probably need a good pinch of pepper, but may not require any salt as the bacon is fairly salty.

5. Keep warm while you fry the eggs or you prepare the egg yolks in their shells.

6. Serve on to hot plates, top with an egg, a side serving of pickled beetroot and garnish with fresh herbs.

Tips

- Traditionally the dish is made with leftover cooked potatoes. If you are using uncooked potatoes, increase the cooking time by 10-15 minutes or boil them with their skins on for 15 minutes and then slip their skins off when they are cold.

- Cook in the oven if you are cooking too much for your frying pans. Cook the onions and potatoes in a hot oven for about 20 minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients and cooking for 15 minutes, turning occasionally.

- In Skåne, in southern Sweden, they often stir in 240 ml (1 cup) of whipping cream and a pinch of chopped marjoram just before serving.

Recipe courtesy of John Duxbury, editor and founder of Swedish Food