Hanukkah began yesterday at sundown, and to celebrate we fried up some simple potato latkes, served with home-made apple sauce! The classic Eastern-European potato pancake is a Hanukkah staple in many households. The Hanukkah tradition of foods cooked in oil commemorate the one day supply of oil that miraculously burned for eight days.
The trick to extra crispy latkes, is to remove as much water as possible from the grated potatoes before frying. This step is quite time consuming, but well worth it! These latkes are best served hot off the frying pan, but can also be warmed up in the oven on a cold December morning and served for breakfast.
Apple Sauce
Ingredients:
• 4 McIntosh apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
• 1 Navel orange, juiced
• 1/4 -1/2 cup water
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
Directions:
1. Combine apple chunks, orange juice, and 1/4 cup of water in a sauce pan.
2. Cover and bring to a slow boil.
3. Reduce heat to low-medium, and simmer for 7 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add more water if needed.
4. Add cinnamon and nutmeg to mixture, and cook on low for 5 minutes.
5. Remove from heat, and mix with a fork, mashing any extra-large apple pieces in the process.
Potato Latkes
Makes about 3 dozen latkes.
Ingredients:
• 6 unpeeled red potatoes
• 2 yellow onions
• 2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1 tsp fresh ground pepper
• 2 eggs
• ½ – 1 cup of Canola Harvest canola oil
• Sour cream for serving (optional)
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 100°C.
2. Using a box grater, grate the unpeeled potatoes into a large mixing bowl.
3. Finely chop onions and add to potato mixture. Mix well.
4. Working in 1 cup batches, place potato and onion mixture into a sheet of cheese cloth or clean dishtowel, and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Transfer to another large mixing bowl. You may need a few sheets of cheese cloth for this step to ensure the potato and onion mixture is thoroughly dry.
5. In a separate mixing bowl, whisk eggs, Kosher salt, and pepper together. Pour into the potato and onion mixture and mix well.
6. Add ½ cup of Canola Harvest oil to a large skillet, and set burner to medium heat for 2 minutes.
7. Using a spoon, drop golf ball-sized portions of the potato mixture to the hot oil, spacing them 2-3 inches apart. Using the spoon, flatten the mixture slightly.
8. Using a spatula, flip the latkes once the edges appear golden-brown, approximately 4 minutes per side.
9. Transfer latkes to baking pan and season to taste with salt. Transfer to oven heated to 100°C.
10. Continue this process, adding more oil to the frying pan as needed.
11. Serve latkes warm with apple sauce and sour cream.
