Potato pancakes with nettles and spring onions, served with tomato sauce

Ingredients for 6 servings:

• 3 kg potatoes
• 50 nettle leaves, very young leaves or shoot tips
• 1 bunch of spring onions
• 1 egg(s)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• n. B. Clarified butter or vegetable oil for frying
• 1 kg tomatoes, beautiful, ripe
• 1 onion(s)
• 1 bunch of parsley
• 1 tbsp paprika paste
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 pinch(s) salt and pepper, black
• 1 lemon(s)
• olive oil

Instructions

Working time approx. 40 minutes; Cooking/baking time approx. 40 minutes; Total time approx. 1 hour 20 minutes

simple and vegetarian

Peel the potatoes, cover with cold water, and boil until mashed (drain before they start to fall apart!). Meanwhile, bring a small pot of water to a boil, blanch the nettle leaves, and finely chop them. Chop the spring onions as well. When the potatoes are tender, combine everything, add salt, pepper, and egg, and mash everything while mixing. Once the mixture has cooled slightly, form small potato pancakes (about 5 cm in diameter and 1 cm thick). Fry the potato pancakes on both sides in lard or vegetable oil (depending on whether you want it to be completely vegetarian or not); the crust should be golden brown. Prepare the sauce while the potatoes are cooking. To do this, grate the tomatoes into a bowl using a coarse grater. Peel the onion and grate it as well. Finely chop the parsley and mix it with the paprika and tomato paste. Add salt, pepper, lemon juice, and olive oil to taste. A dry red wine or a cold beer goes well with this, and water will do, of course.