Fry, Baby Fry

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'Tis the week... the week of frying all over the world in Jewish homes as Chanuka, the Festival of Lights, is celebrated.  Saturday night the first candles were lit, prayers were said, traditional songs sang and the smell of latkes, potato pancakes, was in the air. In fact that smell still lingers in the house eventhough the house fan definitely worked overtime.

Heck,  I probably smell like fried potatoes...

You see OIL plays an important role in this holiday as one miracle that happened besides that small band of Maccabees winning a battle for religious freedom against the large Assyrian army was also when the remaining urn of oil for the eternal light in the destroyed Temple was able to last more than one day until replacements were found.  There is a discrepancy of whether it was really for eight days but that's ok, one week it is.

I have tried a variety of latke recipes over the years but the traditional sour cream and applesauce are always the toppers. This is not a time to be counting calories although I do purchase 'lite' sour cream and we make our own apple sauce with limited sugar.

We grow our own potatoes so this is a great time to deplete some of our bounty. Thanks to the Shiksa in the Kitchen Blog,  my new addition this year was 'Panko' bread crumbs instead of flour/matzo meal to make a crunchier latke.

There's always a discussion of how people like their potato pancakes.  Light, fluffy, crispy, fat /thin.... each family has different preferences. My Dad was the 'latke maker' in my household growing up and he liked his 'crispy' and thin. Natureman loves his fried food and I have relinquished on many occasion the latke making to him. BUT I got to make the batch for this year's first night.

 Read on if you dare- but be prepared to get hungry...

OK go get the ingredients besides the obvious potatoes...

2-3 lbs potatoes (Yukon Gold -our preference) grated*
juice of 1 lime/lemon ( to prevent browning)
1 lg onion, grated
2/3 eggs beaten
1 c Panko bread crumbs
1-2 T potato starch
salt and pepper to taste ( you can always add more later)

This recipe makes about 2 dozen latkes.

*Now Natureman insists on hand grating but I am a Cuisinart gal and into 'time' and 'skin/nail' saving.
If you have two different size graters, use the smaller one.
(I broke my smaller grating disc so I had to use the larger one)
I know people who use frozen hash browns for their latkes. But hey we are potato rich...

Once the potatoes are grated, cover them with water and add the citrus juice to prevent browning/ gray latkes.

Then as you heat your oil, drain your potatoes removing as much liquid as possible. First I use a big colander squeezing down with both hands on top of the grated mound and then I place the potatoes in a tea cloth and wring it.  (Some use cheese cloth.)

Now that you are tired, throw those grated strained potatoes into a big bowl, mixing in all of the other ingredients well -
onion, eggs, potato starch ( you can use the milky liquid that accumulates at the bottom of the grated potatoes), salt, pepper and panko bread crumbs.

To your fry pan add enough oil (about 1/4 in.) to cover the latke sides partially.  I use both a large electric fry pan and a fry pan on the gas stove top to expediate the frying procedure.

Test your oil temp with a pinch of your mixture. If it bubbles and starts frying you are ready to roll. If it's smoking, it's too hot. Different oils are less smoky then others for frying.. Olive oil can be heated up to a little under 400 degrees. Start the exhaust fan regardless. Trust me.

As I make each latke, I take a little less than a 1/4 c and squeeze it in my hand, extracting more liquid  Use an already dirty bowl to catch that extra liquid. Who knew potatoes had so much liquid, right?

-Mold into croquette/ pancake patty dependent on personal choice.
 If it falls apart add more of one of the binders (either the Panko/ starch/egg)
-Place with spatula gingerly into the oil.
-Remember not to crowd the latkes as they are frying. I usually have more than one pan going at a time.
-Allow latke to brown a good 2-3 minutes before flipping...
Place on cooling rack to allow extra oil to drip off. I place a double layer of paper towel under the rack. (Just for my enviromental friends - I use the oil drenched paper towel as a fire starter)
Preheat oven to warm.
Take a cookie sheet and place drained latkes on top and pop into the oven to keep warm until serving.

Leftovers can be frozen/you can always make these ahead of time. Then when you need them, just put the oven, broil and voila latkes without having to deal with that frying mess.

Schmeckt gut...Tastes good.

If  you're like me you'll be chanting: Lots of latkes, lots of latkes, let's all eat them up...
Did you hear me from the End of the Rainbow Valley?

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