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A New Love: Jacques Pépin's Fast Food
Talking Him Into It - Feeding The Guy
Another Change, and Two Summer Shortcakes
« Here we come a wassailing... | Main | Review: Rice Pudding from Saveur »
If you're heading into the kitchen to make latkes this Hannukah, beware: the process of grating potatoes and cooking them in small batches in hot oil is not the no-fuss kind of cooking we usually prefer to do. So why do we do it every year? Because the resulting bites of oil and potatoes, piled high with sour cream and apple sauce, are one of the best holiday foods around. While there's no way to avoid the time intensive process of frying the latkes (after all, frying them in oil is what makes them symbolic of Hannukah), there are some things you can do to make the process a little easier.
1. Instead of spending an hour struggling with a box grater and cutting yourself trying to grate the last little piece of each potato, shred your potatoes with the grating attachment of your food processor. It works just as well in a fraction of the time.
2. Before grating the potatoes, line a large bowl with a kitchen towel, and put the grated potatoes in the towel. Then, use the towel to squeeze as much moisture as possible out of the potatoes before mixing in the flour and eggs.
3. When forming the latkes in your hands, squish them together as much as you can before putting them in the hot oil, then let them sit for a few seconds before using the spatula to flatten them. This will help them stay together and keep them from breaking into smaller, more easily burned bits.
Last weekend we tried the Apple-Potato Latkes with Apple Salsa from Bon Appétit along with our regular latkes, and they turned out wonderfully. Of course, the only person who could really taste the difference between the latkes with apples and the regular latkes was my sister, the apple lover, but we liked them anyway. The apples salsa was a good recipe, adding a little bit of interest to latkes and giving a little reminder of holidays to come in the new year with its haroset-like taste. And while it did not have the same comfort food feeling that the warm applesauce did, it disappeared off the table pretty quickly.
Posted by georgia to Kitchen and Cooking , Reviews on December 26, 2005 09:35 PM | permalink | Email this post
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your latkes look wonderful. I have never had them with applesauce before. I have only had these with my SO's family and everytime I tell my mom about them she asks if we put syrup on them... I have only tried a little ketchup.
Posted by: heather at December 29, 2005 08:06 PM
Thanks for the latkes tips! I will keep them in mind. I don't know if you saw, but I shared my family's latke recipe this week, too. Yum!
Posted by: Beth - Zen Foodism at December 31, 2005 05:24 PM
i know this is not a latke, but trying carrots with the potatoes is also really fanstastic. can't remember where i saw the recipe years ago.
Posted by: threelayercake at January 4, 2006 01:38 AM
Sounds great! And if sweet potato pancakes can be called latkes there's no reason your version can't as well - the thing that actually makes them symbolic is the part where you fry them in oil.
Posted by: Georgia at January 4, 2006 11:54 AM
