It's Not Too Late For Latkes!

Would you rather cook or bake?

I'd rather do anything but cook, so put an "X" in the baking column for me.

My sister...Aunt Goo Shoes...got the cooking gene in our family. She LOVES to cook, and comes to our house most Sundays to make dinner for us.

Works for me!

She slaves away in the kitchen, while I lie on the couch watching football. It's a beautiful thing!

However, when she cooks, I am on cleanup duty, and I will tell you that she uses every pot in my house, and then borrows some from the neighbors! So, it's not as sweet a deal as it sounds.

Yesterday, Aunt Goo Shoes came over to make potato pancakes -- aka Potato Latkes -- for our little Hanukkah celebration. She made both white, and sweet potato latkes. What a potchke! That's the Yiddish word for "ton of work." 

The Potato Pancakes recipe that Aunt Goo Shoes uses came from her friend's mother, who was a Holocaust survivor from Poland. She excelled at Jewish cooking,  and never followed a recipe. But...she never quite mastered the English language... and she had her own way of saying things.

She didn't wear stockings, she wore "panty house..."

... she heated food in her "microfin" oven...

...and she did freak more than a few people out when she told them she lived in a "condom" instead of a condominium.  

Ahem.

Maybe it's best if we just get to the recipe.

POTATO LATKES (aka, Potato Pancakes)

 Yield: 6-8 pancakes

4 medium potatoes
1 small onion
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour*
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
Oil for frying


*For sweet potato latkes, you will need to add some additional flour -- enough to have them hold together. 

Grate potatoes and onion in a food processor.

It should look like this:

Alternatively, you can grate them by hand. You'd be crazy, but you could. There are some people who think that they're not really latkes if you don't do it by hand, but I won't judge.

Add eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and pepper.

Heat 1/2 inch of oil in large frying pan. 

Use a slotted spoon and a regular spoon to squeeze out as much liquid as you can. Put enough mixture for one pancake in the slotted spoon, and press against it with the back of a regular spoon so the liquid is pressed out through the slots.

When the oil is very hot, drop by tablespoons into frying pan. 

Fry on both sides until crisp. 

Drain on paper towels.

Serve with sour cream or applesauce.

It's not too late to make some latkes. There are still 3 days left of Hanukkah. If you don't get around to it this year, there's always next year!

Enjoy!

Linking With:
Metamorphosis Monday
Recipe Sharing Monday 
Tweak It Tuesday
The Scoop
Time To Sparkle
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