Happy Hanukkah to Me!

Last night was the first night of Hanukkah, so to honor my Jewish half (and I mean that literally, my dad is Jewish and my mom Catholic...so I get to enjoy ALL holidays and ALL holiday foods!) I celebrated by making a fresh batch of Latkes!  

It is funny how food brings back such strong memories.  When I was a little girl, my parents and I had dinner with my grandparents almost every Sunday at the Kosher Nosh.  Now at that time I wasn't the adventurous eater I am today (in fact I hated meat all together), so every Sunday I had Latkes...and they were glorious!

This recipe is slightly time consuming (took me about an hour and a half from start to finish), but believe me it is WELL worth the time!

my delicious Hanukkah dinner

Traditional Latkes

4 small Russet potatos

1/2 cup coarsely chopped onions (I love onions so my 1/2 cup was heaping!)

2 chopped whole scallions

2 egg whites

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

olive oil

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Take a sheet pan and put a cooling rack over it.

Mix egg whites, flour, baking soda, kosher salt and freshly ground pepper.  Set aside.

Peel and wash potatoes.  Place potatoes in cold water while you work, so they don't turn brown.  Pat one potato dry with a paper towel and shred with big holes on grater.  Repeat until for all potatoes. Mix onions into shredded potatoes. 

Pick up potato mixture by the handful and squeeze out excess moisture over the sink.  Place on a double layer of paper towels.  When all of potato mixture is on the paper towels, place another doubled up paper towel on top and pat any remaining moisture out.  Add potato mixture to egg mixture.

Heat skillet.  Add oil so that it is about a 1/4 in deep.  When oil is hot (a piece of potato will bubble immediate when dropped in), carefully put a 3" long by 1/2" deep patty into the oil.  Add the next patty after about a minute.  Depending on the size of your skillet you can add as many patties as fit without touching each other.  

an ice cream scooper is the perfect size to make your patties

Check the bottom of the first patty after 4 to 7 minutes.  The bottom should be gold brown (some white showing through is okay).  Turn it over and cook for another 3 to 4 minutes.  When the patty is done, remove it from the skillet and place on the cooling rack.  Repeat until you have used all the potato/onion mixture.

frying away

Place baking sheet in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.  Latkes will get a turn a darker brown, become more crispy and cook through the middle.

Serve hot as they are, with a side of sour cream or my personal favorite applesauce.

Helpful Hint:  if you have any latkes left over you can freeze them and reheat in a 350 degree oven.