Anyone who knows me now will find it hard to believe, but when I was little girl I was a terrible eater. From my Iranian aunts to pre-school teachers, I was ready to pick a fight with anyone waiting to "airplane" a spoon full of mush into my mouth. I'd kick, scream, cry; my mom says I was just picky, but, really, I was a menace to the culinary world.
Sure, I liked things like really crispy bacon and fruit tarts and fries but in those first five years of life in Sweden, I was happiest when I shared these once-in-a-blue-moon treats, bacon not included, with the pigeons in
our town center.
All this changed when we moved to New Jersey. Between the chicken nuggets and frozen pizza lunches served at school and the assorted potato chip and cookie after-school snacks at friends' houses, my eyes opened up to how good food that wasn't porridge could taste. I stopped fighting and started trying, and discovered that a lot of the stuff my mom had been trying to feed me all those years was really very delicious. My favorite turned out to be pyttipanna.
Pyttipanna literally means "leftovers in a pan," traditionally onions, potatoes and some kind of meat, previously cooked, all chopped up and fried in a pan. This dish came to be such a hit in my house that my mom started making it even when we didn't have leftovers, dicing up pieces of chicken and bacon (my favorite!) and often adding vegetables (my less than favorite) to the mix.
Pyttipanna was in regular rotation for years after we moved to America, really the only Swedish dish we brought with us, but one day, I'm not sure when, it was gone. Maybe it was all the dieting going on my house, all the grilling and steaming and broiling that took the place of pan-frying foods until they're salty, crispy, yummier versions of their former selves. Whatever the reason, I don't think any of noticed it fell out of favor.
Until this week, at least.
I had assumed my regular mid-week stance - body half in the refrigerator with my left arm propped up on the fridge door, allowing me to pivot as necessary to observe what stood in the cupboards behind me - and was trying to figure out how to salvage my stockpile of fresh food that would, gulp, not be fresh by the end of the week.
I decided to cook as much as I could at once, and all together. I cut up fresh dug Yukon gold potatoes that I'd boiled, fresh baby summer squash and an onion, and a couple of chicken breasts. Into a pan of olive oil went the onion, simmering alone until caramelized. Next went the chicken and then the potatoes...
Before the squash hit the pan, I was transported to the little kitchen of my childhood home in New Jersey, to those days filled with the smells of Sweden. There are few foods that have that kind of effect on me, and I can't wait to make pyttipanna a regular in my kitchen on and in my belly again. Next time, though, there will be bacon.
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Pyttipanna (Swedish "leftovers in a pan")
I feel a little foolish posting a recipe for this since the title is so self-explanatory. Really the cooking instructions should read something like "Put leftovers in pan of hot oil. Cook until hot and crispy. Eat." But since everyone likes a good recipe, and this one is sooo good, I'll include it. This should serve two - or maybe just one really hungry - person. Feel free to mix it up depending on what you have on hand and what's in season. The base is onion, potato and meat, so go nuts. This is meant to be an easy, stress-free dish. It's just a bonus that it's delicious.
1 small onion, diced
1 lb. potatoes, boiled and cut into cubes
2 chicken breasts, cut into cubes
About 12 baby squash, halved
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil
Spray oil, or more olive oil, as needed
Once all the meat and vegetables are cut, coat raw chicken cubes with 1 teaspoon salt and heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in large skillet. Add onion to the oil and sautee on medium-high until caramelized. From this point on, use the additional olive oil or spray oil as needed to keep the ingredients from burning. The idea is to get the meat and vegetables really crispy, but not soaked in oil. Use your discretion here.
Add the salted chicken cubes and sautee, stirring occasionally and adding oil as needed, until cooked through and brown on both sides. Remove the chicken and onion to a plate, and add the potatoes and additional oil. The potatoes are already cooked, but they will heat through and brown in the pan, flipping them occasionally.
Finally, add the chicken and onions back to the pan of potatoes, then add the still raw squash. Toss the ingredients together and continue to fry until the squash begins to soften.
Pyttipanna is traditionally served with something pickled and my dad always topped his with a fried egg, but my mom taught me to eat it with a piece of crusty bread. The end of a baguette works wonders here, first acting as a prop when you're shoveling the food up onto your fork and finally as a sponge to pick up any of the delicious crispy, oily bits stuck to the bottom of the pan.
