Pan-fried potatoes or bratkartoffeln with a side of creamy quark is one of my favorite dishes to eat in Germany. For years, my friends and I met up evenings after work at Schumann’s in Munich to drink red wine and share this dish. By the way, a glass of good red wine goes perfectly with these.
Some of my best memories, lifelong friendships, best gossip, and deepest secrets were shared and sealed during those times over that dish of magical pan-fried potatoes. Dishing over this side dish was regularly scheduled into our lives.
Now, I’ve reinvented the recipe by adding fresh sage from my garden. My sage plant goes strong until just after Thanksgiving. I intend to make full use of it until then. The sage adds a beautiful fragrance to the dish and elevates its status as a German staple dish.
Quark is almost impossible to find in the USA in most supermarkets. So I substituted sour cream, its more pedestrian cousin. The quark and/or sour cream option are completely optional but highly recommended. Swirling forkfuls of pan-fried potatoes into the luscious cream is sublime. Just saying.
Potatoes and onions are fried in speck grease as well as clarified butter. So there’s no skimping here on the calories or fat. Speck is also difficult to find in most USA supermarkets. Substitute chopped thick cut bacon instead. For a vegetarian version, skip the pork altogether and use only the clarified butter.
I dub this an Oktoberfest recipe but the dish is versatile. Make it for brunch, as a Thanksgiving dinner side dish or as comfort food any time of the year.
Because of my memories, these are not as dishy delicious to me as the ones we ate in Schumann’s. However, the recipe is darn close.
Pan Fried Potatoes with Sage
Ingredients
- 2 lbs small yellow potatoes
- 1 onion
- 4 oz speck or chopped thick cut bacon
- 3 tablespoons clarified butter or ghee
- 1 tablespoon finely minced fresh sage, plus a few fresh whole leaves for garnish.
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- sour cream, optional
Instructions
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Rinse the potatoes, peel them and boil in salted water for 15 minutes. You should be able to run a fork through them without them falling apart.
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Drain and let them cool overnight.
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Use a sharp knife to slice the potatoes into rounds.
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Peel the onion and thinly slice into rings
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Cook the speck in a large skillet. When the speck becomes crispy, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
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Add the onions to the pan and sauté until browned, remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
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Melt the clarified butter in the pan then spread the potato slices out in the pan and let them cook until browned on one side, about 8 minutes.
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Flip them over, add the speck and the fried onion rings back into to the pan, Sprinkle the fresh chopped sage over the potatoes and cook for another 5 minutes.
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Season with Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.
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Remove from heat, transfer to a serving platter, garnish with fresh sage leaves and serve.
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Serve with the sour cream (optional).
