Hash Brown Haloumi Stack

I would hereby like to attribute my culinary accomplishments thus far, to Sunday.

Sunday cooking is my favourite - it's long slow stews and slow roasts in the winter. With each change of season Sunday is about nipping out to the Sunday markets on a still morning, discovering something new, and spending all afternoon deciding what the hell to do with it. It's about taking the time to do make you've never tried before, and never thought you would. It's about inviting friends over for an afternoon coffee and some fresh baking.

Best of all, Sunday invariably brings the combination of breakfast and lunch into that amazing meal we call brunch.

Oh Sunday.

Or even better - Monday, posing as Sunday on a long weekend.

Hash Brown Haloumi Stack (Serves 2)

1 large potato (somewhere in the vicinity of 400g) - I used Agria
1/2 an onion
1T flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Salt and pepper
1 egg
2T flour
Oil for frying
150g haloumi, divided into 4 thin slices.
1T white vinegar
2 eggs
I served mine with oven roasted tomatoes, smoked mushrooms and a poached egg

Turn on the oven to 100 C, and pop a plate and a paper towel into the oven (to keep the hash browns warm while you're frying). Get a deep pot of water on the boil for the eggs, with a splash of vinegar in it.

Start by shredding the potato. Now, I mean shred, not grate. I did mine with a julienne peeler we have in the bottom drawer, or a shred blade on a food processor would work a charm. If you don't have either of these, you can use a coarse grater, but make sure you use a tea towel to squeeze out all the excess liquid.

Next you're going to need to coarsely grate the half onion, so put on your snorkel, stuff a piece of bread in your mouth, or do whatever it is that you think helps with the fumes.

Put the potato, onion, parsley, salt and pepper in a bowl. Add the egg and flour, and stir to combine.

Heat a good glug of oil in a pan on a medium-high heat. When it's hot, put 1/4 of the mixture into the pan and flatten it out into a wide, thin fritter. Don't make the fritters too thick, or they won't cook through. Fry reasonably slowly until the fritter is golden on the bottom - this should take at least 3 or 4 full minutes. Turn down the heat if they're browning too quickly. Flip the fritters and fry the other side until golden. Place in the oven to keep warm while you fry the rest.

Once the fritters are all fried up, add the haloumi to the pan and fry until golden on both sides.

Turn off the heat on the boiling water, gently crack the eggs in, and poach gently for 2 1/2 minutes or so, or until done.

Stack two fritters and two slices of haloumi alternately, top with any accompaniments for serving. I served mine with oven dried tomatoes and smoked mushrooms.