I know it's a little late for Hanukkah recipes, but I've been extremely busy over the last month, and I'd be remiss if I didn't post about my culinary adventures.
At the beginning of December, I found a recipe in the newspaper for latkes, the golden, holiday love child of potatoes and oil. I hadn't eaten latkes since my fifth grade teacher, Miriam Spitzer, and her mother cooked them up for our entire class, but I instantly remembered the delicate crunch of fried potato and the light, fluffy center, coupled with a dollop of sour cream. Heaven. If anyone doubts the Jews are God's chosen people, all they need do is bite into a latke. Such a recipe could only have been divinely inspired.
But I digress. Despite never having made latkes before, I decided it was something I could pull of reasonably well on the first try. After all, I'd made hash browns, which also involve grated potatoes deep fried in oil, and the whole latke concept didn't seem so far removed. I spent an hour grating Klondike rose potatoes, chopping vidalia onions and mixing the result together with egg, flour, and salt.
The result was somewhat more goopey than desired - I had to ladle the mixture into the frying pan like a breakfast pancake, rather than shaping it into a pattie and frying it, as the directions suggested - but I think the drippy nature of my pot
ato batter was more a product of my casual approach to following recipes than any fault in the recipe itself.
memory of how a latke was supposed to taste. Our friend Cory came over for dinner that night and didn't run away screaming or report being violently ill afterward, so, all in all, I call this attempt at traditional Jewish fare a reasonably yummy success for a shiksa like me.Since my cooking method involves a lot of "that looks about right" and "I don't have what I need, but I do have applesauce. Let's see what happens!" I've found several recipes for latkes that might be more helpful to anyone who wants to make them.
My favorite, from NYCnosh.com:
http://www.nycnosh.com/?p=98
A good one from Epicurious.com, which doesn't call for flour:
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/104406
Another from My Jewish Learning. Make sure to read the variations at the bottom of the page:
http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Hanukkah/TO_Hanukkah_Home/Foods_433/latke_recipe.htm
