{"id":1004,"date":"2008-12-23T14:59:58","date_gmt":"2008-12-23T19:59:58","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.wordpress.com\/?p=1004"},"modified":"2008-12-23T14:59:58","modified_gmt":"2008-12-23T19:59:58","slug":"the-festival-of-lights-and-latkes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/?p=1004","title":{"rendered":"The Festival of Lights (and Latkes!)"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Chic

Chic Cousin Jane Shows Off the Latkes<\/p><\/div>\n

Sunday evening my family celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Our cousins Jane and Alan joined us for a laughter-filled evening, and we made latkes, something we do only once a year. (They\u2019re too fattening and too special to make more often.)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Because we make them so rarely I have to recalibrate my potato pancakes each time I make them. The recipe that appears below is therefore a little vague. Adjust your latkes as you need to; I always do!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s traditional to use vegetable oil in these cakes, but I love the flavor that good olive oil imparts. The oil should, after all, star since Hanukkah celebrates oil that burned for eight days and eight nights more than 2000 years ago.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

You may ask why I\u2019m mentioning both Christmas cookies and Hanukkah pancakes on this blog. I was brought up doing a little bit of everything by my Jewish father and Unitarian mother. Even if I weren\u2019t a religious mutt, I think I\u2019d probably want to make foods for many different holidays. I love learning about different culinary traditions–and I embrace any excuse for food, fun, family, and friends.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Once a Year Latkes<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Ingredients:<\/span><\/span><\/em>
\n2 large baking potatoes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1 large onion, more or less finely chopped<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1 egg, beaten (you may use another if you really need it)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

2 to 4 tablespoons flour<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

1 teaspoon Kosher salt<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

freshly ground pepper to taste (we like lots)<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

extra-virgin olive oil as needed for frying<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Instructions:<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Wash the potatoes well and peel them if you want to (the skins are nutritious so don\u2019t feel you have to). Grate them. This takes a really long time with a box grater so we prefer to use the grater attachment of our food processor. We only get it out for latkes, and we never quite remember how it works, but luckily my sister-in-law Leigh kept the instruction book. Even more luckily,\u00a0Sunday night Cousin Alan remembered how it works!<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Do not use the main blade of the food processor as it will make the potato pieces small and wet. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Wrap the potato shreds in a clean dishtowel. Carry it to the sink, and wring out as much liquid as you can. Leave the wrapped shreds in the sink to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients (and maybe have a cocktail or two).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>In a medium bowl, combine the potato pieces, onion, egg, 2 tablespoons flour, salt, and pepper. In a large frying pan, heat a few tablespoons of oil until the oil begins to shimmer. Scoop some of the potato mixture out of the bowl with a soup spoon, and flatten it with your hand. Pop the flattened potato into the hot oil. It should hiss and bubble a bit; if not, wait before you put more pancakes into the oil.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>It\u2019s just fine if your latkes are a little ragged around the edges; the potatoes are the main event, after all, and you don\u2019t want them too homogenized. If they don\u2019t hold together and are hard to turn, however, you may want to add a little more flour and even another egg to your batter.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Fry the potato cakes a few at a time, turning each when the first side gets golden. Drain the cooked latkes on paper towels; then pop them into a 250-degree oven to stay warm until their cousins are finished cooking. When you run out of batter (or feel you have enough for your family!), light the menorah and serve the latkes. Serves 6 to 8 as a side dish.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\"Michael

Michael and Cousin Alan Light the Menorah<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0Here are a few more photos of our evening:<\/p>\n

\"At

At the Food Processor<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Sister

Sister Leigh at the Stove<\/p><\/div>\n

\"latkes-on-tray-web3\"<\/p>\n

\"Happy

Happy Hanukkah!<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sunday evening my family celebrated the first night of Hanukkah. Our cousins Jane and Alan joined us for a laughter-filled evening, and we made latkes, something we do only once a year. (They\u2019re too fattening and too special to make more often.) Because we make them so rarely I have to recalibrate my potato pancakes […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,17,42],"tags":[59,107,50,196,229,245,246,322,392],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1004"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1004"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1004"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ourgrandmotherskitchens.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1004"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}