Post 2 – Latkes
Although this is the “12 Posts of Christmas” there are many other holidays celebrated during this time, including Hanukkah! I have many wonderful Jewish friends and some of my extended family is Jewish, so I thought it would be fun to include a post celebrating Hanukkah. Latkes (potato pancakes) are traditionally cooked during Hanukkah and they are very, very yummy. How can you go wrong with potatoes fried in oil?
I have been making latkes for the past 6 or 7 years and I’ve used a bunch of different recipes to find one that I am happy with. I don’t know if these are the most traditional latkes, but I think they taste pretty darn good. The original recipe used 3 eggs, but I am not a huge egg fan so I only used 2 and then increased the amount of flour. Here is my take on potato latkes.
Lacy Golden Latkes
(adapted from a recipe ripped out of a Canadian Living Magazine, December 29, 1990 (1990, wow, almost as old as I am!)
INGREDIENTS:
– 5 baking potatoes
– 2 small onions
– 2 eggs
– 4 tbsp all purpose flour
– 3/4 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp white pepper
– canola oil for cooking
– sour cream and/or apple sauce

METHOD:
1. Peel the potatoes and onions and cut into large chunks.

2. By hand, or using a food processor, alternatively shred the onions and potatoes. (This helps to prevent the potatoes from browning).
3. Transfer the mixture into a colander. With your hands squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can.

4. Transfer the mixture into a large bowl. Mix in the eggs, flour, salt and pepper. Let the mixture stand for about 5 minutes as you get the oil heating in a large skillet. You will need a good amount of oil for these latkes to taste their best, there is nothing healthy about this recipe!


5. Pour out any excess liquid in the potato mixture. Add about a quarter cup of the mixture to the skillet for each latke. Flatten the latke slightly with the back of a spoon.

6. Fry the latkes for about 3 minutes or until well browned and crisp around the edges. Turn the latkes over and fry for about another 3 minutes until both sides are golden-brown. For best results, take your time and don’t crowd the pan.


7. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel and drain well. The latkes are best served immediately with sour cream or applesauce, however this time I was pre-making mine for a dinner, so I loaded them onto a foil rimmed tray and slid them into the fridge. When it was time to warm the latkes, I just put them in the oven for about 10 minutes and they crisped right up.

Although these latkes were for a dinner later that day, of course I had to do some quality control during the cooking process. You know… to make sure my product was of the highest standard… of course.

Yum, so good. But definitely a once a year type of thing… the house still kind of smells like fried food.
Happy Hanukkah to all my friends and family celebrating!
I’m having trouble typing this because I’m drooling on the keyboard, I’ve GOT to try these.