I like to think that I made a smashing impression on my Russian in-laws when I met them — at the time, I didn’t eat meat or, more importantly, smoked fish. I remain staunch in my dislike of beets. And shortly after we got married I started talking about quitting my day job to… blog full time. But I took a liking to pickles immediately. I make a pretty solid eggplant caviar, because I learned from the best. I’ve since figured out Honey Cake and Russian Napoleon. And although the vegetarian options were limited at the time when we first met at the Russian Vodka Room, I quickly discovered my favorite Russian comfort food, fried potatoes and mushrooms (kartoshka s’gribami).
I’ve ordered it at every Russian restaurant since. There are about as many variations on potatoes and mushrooms as there are people scattered from Russia and the former Soviet republics who enjoy it. I don’t think I’ve ever had two of the same versions twice, but I’ve yet to find one I didn’t like. Sometimes the potatoes are baton-shaped, like french fries, sometimes diced, sometimes in chunks or discs, but they are always fried. Yet when I make it at home, although I have no quibble frying potatoes (I’ll share directions below if you’d like to) I find it easier to just roast them like oven cottage fries while I prepare the mushrooms on the stove. This dish is pure comfort food and coziness. It’s inexpensive and while it’s often served among several other dishes, zakuski-style, you absolutely can and should, given the dreary weather, have it in a big bowl for dinner tonight.
Podcast! Friends, I’m starting a podcast with none other than J. Kenji Lopez-Alt where we get to obsess over our favorite subjects: home cooking and recipes, with a heavy lean towards comfort foods and nostalgia. The Recipe With Kenji and Deb will launch later this month from PRX from Radiotopia and you’ll be able to listen to it anywhere you get your podcasts. The podcast website is coming soon, but in the meanwhile you can find updates on the Instagram.
Previously
6 months ago: Buffalo Chicken Cobb Salad
1 year ago: Cauliflower Salad with Dates and Pistachios
2 years ago: Spanakopita
3 year ago: Parmesan Oven Risotto
4 years ago: Roasted Squash and Tofu with Ginger
5 years ago: Plush Coconut Cake
6 years ago: Sheet Pan Meatballs with Crispy Turmeric Chickpeas
7 years ago: Chocolate Dutch Baby
8 years ago: Blood Orange, Almond, and Ricotta Cake and Cabbage and Sausage Casserole
9 years ago: Key Lime Pie and Make Your Own Vanilla Extract
10 years ago: Pear and Hazelnut Muffins and Warm Lentil and Potato Salad
11 years ago: Lentil Soup with Sausage, Chard, and Garlic
12 years ago: Buttermilk Roast Chicken
13 years ago: Baked Potato Soup
14 years ago: Black Bean Soup + Toasted Cumin Seed Crema and Cranberry Syrup and an Intensely Almond Cake
15 years ago: Clementine Cake and Mushroom Bourguignon
16 years ago: Chicken Caesar Salad and Fried Chicken
17 years ago: Grapefruit Yogurt Cake
Russian-Style Crispy Potatoes and Mushrooms
- 1 1/2 pounds (680 grams) Yukon gold potatoes, peeled if you wish, cut into 1/4-inch slices
- Olive oil
- Kosher Salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 tablespoons (45 grams) unsalted butter, divided
- 1 small onion, diced (1 heaped cup)
- Kosher salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 2 to 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1 pound (455 grams) cremini or other mushroom, thinly sliced
- Sour cream
- A handful of fresh dill
Potatoes
Mushrooms
To serve
Meanwhile, make the mushrooms and onions: Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once hot, add 1 tablespoon butter and 1 tablespoon olive oil. Once hot, add onions and season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring, until onions are soft and deeply golden throughout, about 7 to 10 minutes. Reduce heat if they’re browning much faster. Scoop onions from the pan and set aside in a bowl.
Rewarm the empty pan (bumping back to medium-high if you reduced the heat) and once the pan is very hot, add 1 more tablespoon of butter. Once melted, add mushrooms in as flat of a layer as you can. Don’t move them for 2 to 3 minutes, until browned underneath. Stir, spread flat again, and repeat the process once or twice. Then, add the minced garlic and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and continue to cook, cooking off any liquid that’s been expelled from the mushrooms, until mushrooms are tender and delicious, a few minutes more. Add reserved onions and last tablespoon of butter and stir to combine, rewarming the mushrooms and melting the butter.
Assemble: Arrange potatoes on a platter and heap with mushrooms and onions. Sprinkle with dill and serve with a generous dollop of sour cream.
To fry your potatoes: Place potatoes in a skillet deep enough to hold them with an inch on top and pour a high-heat oil (peanut or vegetable oil work great) to just barely cover them. Turn heat to high, yes high, and bring it to a boil. Without moving the potatoes, cook for 20 to 25 minutes, until they’re crisp and golden, adding another 5 minutes if needed. Only if necessary for even cooking, you can stir them in the last 5 to 8 minutes. Drain (the oil can be strained and reused) and spread on paper towels to blot, and season immediately with salt and pepper. Serve with the mushrooms from above.
Looks delicious. I think you’re missing a word in the opening….’although the vegetarian ____ were limited’…
This looks delicious! Can’t wait to make it!
The only thing needed to complete dinner tonight is a slice of roasted cabbage!
Congrats on the new venture, I can’t wait to subscribe!!
What do you recommend putting with it for an animal protein loving husband?
Katie, I had a sauteed chicken breast, but I think it would go with anything.
Hi, thank you for your recipe. I have been a massive fan for many many years. We feel very sensitive in the continent when the term “former Soviet Union republics” are used as some of the countries did not join Soviet Union, but were occupied, for example, all Baltic states. It is ok to use this term if you talk about history, but even then maybe term former Soviet republics and occupied Soviet territories are more accurate. Instead you could use Russia, Eastern, Northern and Central Europe countries enjoy baked potatoes with mushrooms. Love to roasted potatoes with mushrooms is not related to Russian culture itself, but maybe more linked with climate, and therefore as a result in the territorial context with slavic-scandinavian culture. Salome, Europe
My favorite restaurant, Shish Kebab Palace (which is closed!) served this with various kebabs. Marinated chunks of lamb, ground lamb (lulya kebab), chicken chunks, etc. That is exactly what I would serve with this.
I used to be a member of a Russian novel reading group, and I am a vegetarian. We met at a restaurant called Uncle Vanya (now closed), and I would always order exactly this. I think they called it “country mushrooms.” I am so thrilled you posted the recipe: I miss the dish and I miss the reading group! When I arrived the first time, the leader, instead of asking for my name, asked, “Do you drink vodka?” He always brought a bottle, with permission from the restaurant, and I would take little sips while all the older-than-me Russian men took big gulps and we all argued pleasantly about Gogol or Tolstoy. So, thank you!
Would love to be part of that book group! Your post reminds me of the Bulgarian tradition of having shots of rakia with the salad appetizer (shopska). Winters are cold, wink wink.
This group sounds incredible!! Wish I could find one in my city.
So stoked about the podcast! I heard your conversation at Seattle Arts and Lectures with Kenji and you have such great chemistry together.
So, to the list of people who need only one name, like Cher, Oprah, and Ichiro, add now Deb and Kenji!
Kind of a silly question, but do you flip each potato coin individually?
I use a flexible fish spatula and try to but am not perfect about it. They’re not always this small; I was just using fingerlings from the market the day I photographed this.
I am SO SO SO excited about your forthcoming podcast with Kenji, Deb! Two of my fave foodies teaming up together – yay! The mushrooms + spuds recipe sounds dreamy too. Am in the southern hemisphere so waiting for it to be chilly enough to enjoy all of the cosy options in your latest posts. Hope winter eases in NYC soon.
YES!! Couldn’t possibly BE more excited!! Thank you guys for teaming up on this most magnificent magical project of food glory!
Wheres’ the recipe? Unless I am having a brain cramp I don’t see one here.
It’s right in the usual place — below the post, above the comments.
Most annoying question ever: I have a potato allergy! Would it be OK to sub another root veg? I know that is sort of perhaps changing the most essential thing here. Maybe parsnip, celeriac, rutabaga, turnip…? Winter squash? (All of these feel like “no”)
What about buttered toast pieces? That combines the comfort of a starch with the roasty goodness of toast, and butter replaces the oil from the potatoes…
Toast pieces sounds like a good idea. I also think it would work with parsnips. They get nice and crispy if you fry them and I think the flavor combination would work.
It would probably taste great but be “crispy turnip/squash/etc with mushrooms”. Different but also fine!
Are you able to have white or purple sweet potatoes? Different flavour profile, but starchy with a bit of sweetness, and they’d crisp up well.
Are plantains an option?
As Jeff said, different but also fine!
Hi! Just wanted to say Alison Roman makes a dish of farro topped with mushrooms, sour cream, and dill. I cook the farro in chicken broth and take it off the heat when it still has a bit of bite to it. Would really recommend this version if you’re allergic to potatoes. Similar flavor profile and equally cozy.
Made this and it was so yum! I really wanted to add cheese but was deterred so just went ahead with greek yogurt and dill and it was perfect. Thank you for sharing!!!
I make- and love – a similar dish from Alice Zaslavsky’s book In Praise of veg. She adds pickles! It’s delicious. I am going to try your version but also wanted to suggest adding pickles as Alice does.
I made this tonight and it was amazing. I believe you should follow a recipe closely the first time around, but I did have to substitute dried dill for fresh (I’m sure fresh would make it even better but I couldn’t find any). This is comfort food of the best kind. I had mine with a sauteed chicken breast, but it is so rich and yummy it could be a satisfying vegetarian main dish. I will be making it again for sure.
Deb and Kenji?! My two favorite recipe developers in one place!?! I spend most weeks choosing Serious Eats or Smitten Kitchen recipes for meal prep planning. I can’t wait to see what comes when Kenji’s do-whatever-it-takes-to-make-this-perfect meets Deb’s keep-it-simple-and-delicious. I’m hoping there will be recipes included!
You know what would make your Russian recipe file complete is a recipe for foolproof syrniki! I am guessing that the issue may be the fact that tvorog is neither easily available nor easily substituted for this particular recipe, but nadezhda umiraet poslednei, because I know that if anyone can create a perfect recipe for syrniki, it is you.
I have a version of them in my second cookbook, Smitten Kitchen Every Day. However, I make them somewhat untraditionally, with ricotta (because it’s easier to find here), some orange zest, and honey.
Can you make the mushrooms with all olive oil?
Definitely going into the rotation. I love mushrooms, and potatoes. I may have to add some garlic. I am probably one of the few people who buys two containers of mushrooms at Costco every week. They are getting more varieties too. (I live in rural Montana, shopping is you get what you get here).
I love the non-fussy instructions on how to do the frying! Great way to know how much oil to use and not need to measure temperature etc (because whoever would have done that, way back when).
There is another version of Russian potatoes & mushrooms that is equally delicious in my mind. In that version, the potatoes and mushrooms are cooked together in a sour cream sauce (full-fat plain yogurt works just fine). I usually parboil the potato chunks while sauteeing the mushrooms and onions in a skillet, then combine them with the potatoes and some of their cooking liquid plus the sour cream or yogurt. Season with bay leaf, salt and black pepper, and simmer until potatoes are tender. The result is a deeply flavorful, satisfying stew, with some of the potatoes collapsing into and thickening the sauce. You could add dill at the end, if you like.
Yum! I was thinking also of Mushrooms Julienne, which can be baked with cheese. I often see them next to each other on menus and cannot choose.
I have made and loved your broiled mushrooms – the capers make it for me. Would it be OK to make the mushrooms in the oven and combine it as shown?
Heavenly! Crispy, carmelized, creamy. Practically Russian nachos 😄
My husband said this is one of the best things I’ve ever made! Went great with baked cod with lots of lemon and thyme. This is going to become a staple, as will this method of cooking potatoes for vehicles of many other kinds of saucy goodness. Thank you💜
Yes! Russian nachos that I served with our Super Bowl spread. Absolutely delicious. I used 3 garlic cloves and it really bumped up the flavour. They’d be delicious as either a main or side and will now be on regular rotation!
Thank you for this delicious recipe! It was perfect for a dinner party on a cold, snowy day this weekend. I served it alongside roasted pork tenderloin.
Poutine forestier ! I made this and it was deeeelicious ! Да Да Да
I made this yesterday, as I had some mushrooms I needed to use up. I am the only one eating mushrooms, but they wer so great I hardly have leftovers for lunch today :-D
The family inhaled the potatoes, so next time, I must double (or triple) the amount ;-)
The Russian Vodka Room is the best!
Do you think this would be good with sweet potatoes? The recipe sounds devine, but trying to lower use of white potatoes.
I don’t find that they get as crispy but I’m sure it would be good.
I found that if you chop the mushrooms into really tiny chunks, so that you can’t visibly tell it’s mushrooms, people who usually don’t like them because of their texture, will invariably have a better experience and might actually, as in the case with my husband, love mushrooms.
This was really amazing! We added broccolini to the mushrooms on top and it was so good. We’ve made it at least 5 times in the last few weeks.
The seasoning is spot on. The garlic, thyme and hint of lemon zest bring out so much flavor in the mushrooms, I love all the different mushroom varieties used. The textures really complement each other well.
Made this for dinner last night and it was startlingly great. It somehow came together as far more than the sum of its parts. Perfect filling, comforting food for a grey rainy evening in England!
This was so yummy! The fresh dill really knocked it out of the park. I sliced the potatoes 1/4” thick, and they got a little over-crispy. I cooked them in a toaster convection oven and probably overdid it. Next time (and there WILL be a next time), I’ll probably make 1/2” cubes. This was so good with Deb’s turkey meatloaf!
We loved this dish! We’re trying to eat a few more plant based meals each week and this will be on repeat. I served this with pickled beets and a side salad and it was an outstanding meal!
Now if you can find me a recipe for a Russian martini (it probably has another name) – I had one in Helsinki years ago and I think it featured sweet pickle juice?
Thank you for all the delicious meals, you inspire me!