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!