Latkes

Jayne Cohen cooks up crisp, delicious latkes, or potato pancakes, for Hannukah in her book, Jewish Holiday Cooking: A Food Lovers Treasury of Classics and Improvisations. For more information about Jayne, visit her website Jewish Holiday Cooking.

Classic Potato Latkes

1 ½ lbs Russet (baking) or Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and quartered

½ lb onions, peeled and quartered

1 large egg, beaten

1 Tablespoon matzoh meal or unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp baking powder

Olive or canola oil, for frying

Cook’s note: For galettes a l’oignon et pomme de terre — the addictive onion and potato pancakes sold at the Sunday organic market in Paris — follow the above recipe, but increase onion to ¾ lb, replace matzoh meal with about 2 Tablespoons grated cheese (such as Parmesan), and decrease salt if necessary, according to saltiness of cheese. Before serving, sprinkle with coarse salt.

Cheese Latkes With Fresh Persimmon Sauce

For the fresh persimmon sauce

3 medium, dead-ripe persimmons, preferably the jelly-soft, acorn-shaped Hachiya type (see Cook’s Note)

1 or 2 pinches of salt

2 or 3 tsps fresh lime or lemon juice

1 to 2 Tablespoons pure maple syrup

For the latkes

½ lb farmer cheese (a 7.5-oz package is fine)

2 Tablespoons cream cheese

4 large eggs, separated

½ tsp vanilla extract

½ cup matzoh meal

¼ tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Unsalted butter and mild vegetable oil such as canola or avocado, for frying

Cook’s note: With Hachiya persimmons, ripeness is all: the difference between mouth-puckeringly astringent and voluptuously sweet. The rounded, squat Fuyu persimmon contains no harsh tannins and is never astringent; though excellent sliced, it will not make as luscious a puree. Choose meltingly soft Hachiyas with deeply colored, unbroken skin.

Crispy Shallot Latkes with Sugar Dusting

1 ½ cups thinly slices shallots (about 1 lb)

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter or fine-quality olive oil

About 1 ½ lbs russet (baking) or Yukon gold potatoes, peeled

1 large egg, beaten

About ¾ tsp salt

About ¼ tsp freshly ground black pepper

½ tsp baking powder

Evan Kleiman's Latke Recipe and Homemade Applesauce

This recipe is the one Evan's mother and now Evan have been making for years -- years and years. It came from one of her mom's best friends, Roz Katz. Mom and Roz met as co-op nursery school mothers. The Katzs still grate the potatoes by hand using the old fashioned grater that is like a grid. Evan's usually in a hurry so she uses the food processor.

Latkes - Potato Pancakes

4 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered

1 small onion, peeled

1 egg

1/4 cup flour

1 tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

Grape seed, peanut or corn oil for frying

Applesauce

Hanukkah means latkes, or potato pancakes to many of us and often the best thing about them is the accompanying homemade applesauce.

Music break: Adios by Billy Strange with the Mexican Brass