OY!
I’m totally late with this latke recipe!!
So the last time Hanukkah and Christmas fell on the same eve was in the year I was born……ahem….cough….cough….1 9 5 9. Yes, I was only 6 months old when Chrismukkah became a THING. Speaking of which, I completely forgot to celebrate my 1/2 birthday this year. It falls on December 20th and it’s a good excuse to EAT CAKE but it slipped my mind! Um..that doesn’t mean I didn’t have cake this week. What?
For those of you who forgot to wish me a happy 1/2 birthday, I forgive you but only because we really need to focus on these latkes today.I usually make my mom’s recipe which is a variation of a REAL potato latke and a pancake. She likes to finely shred the potatoes where as most folks like to do the opposite. The standard latke has big shreds of potatoes in them that you can’t miss. Either way, a latke is a latke but there is a trick to keeping them pristine and white instead of greyish brown.
When you peel your potatoes always immerse them immediately in ice water to prevent them from oxidizing. I know that’s a big word but to make it easier – it keeps them from turning B.R.O.W.N.
It’s called the S.I.S.D. Method (Shred, Ice Water, Squeeze and Dry).
That ice water is KEY. I mean it. IF you skip that step you will end up with a latke that looks more like a burger and who wants a burger when you can have a latke. Come on latke people. Get it together.
OR.
You can make sweet potato latkes for a change and you don’t even need to think about bathing your potatoes in ice water. Why? Because sweet potatoes are orange and don’t turn odd colours when you leave them alone for a second.
So let me tell you what happened when I made these tonight. I threw the ingredients together and started to fry them. Then I got distracted (for a change) and burnt the hell out of the latkes. But wait. That’s not the whole story. Last night Steve made a meat sauce for our pasta. He had the pot on the stove simmering for hours and hours. The sauce was really good.
When we went to bed after watching a really stupid movie, I thought I smelled gas. Not what you’re thinking at all, although from time to time it can happen.
It was more like fumes from the stove. So I said….”Steve? Did you turn off the burners”? To which he replied “Of course I did, like I’m really going to leave the burner on….HA”!
Hmmmmmm.
Fast forward to 6 p.m. tonight. I’m busy making (uh no, burning) the latkes and I noticed that the little burner behind my big burner was ON! That meant only one thing…….Steve lied. He left it on for 24 hours and tried to kill us both (and the cat) while we slept in a house of fumes.
Moral of the story? If you smell gas, trust your instincts, it most likely has something to do with STEVE.
Anyhoo.
I burnt round one of these latkes by deep frying them so I decided to bake round two instead. Healthier option and less of a chance of cremating them again.
Well?
Light and fluffy on the inside, crispy on the outside. The best part is? You don’t need wait til’ Hanukkah to make them. Enjoy!
Sweet Potato Latkes with Spiced Sour Cream & Pistachios
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Author: simply beautiful eating
Ingredients
- 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and shredded (I used one extra large)
- 1 egg beaten
- ¼ cup potato starch or flour
- 2 tablespoons parsley, finely minced
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon pepper
- ½ cup sour cream
- pinch of cayenne pepper
- chopped pistachios for garnish
Instructions
- Mix potatoes, egg, starch parsley, salt and pepper in a medium sized bowl. Heat oven to 400F and coat a cookie sheet with oil. Place cookie sheet inside oven for 10 minutes (you want to heat the oil before you put the potato mixture on).
- Remove sheet from oven carefully. Drop sweet potato mixture by teaspoons onto cookie sheet.
- Place back into oven for 15 minutes. Flip latkes and return to oven for another 10 to 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, mix sour cream with cayenne pepper. Once the latkes are crispy and done, remove from oven and place a dollop of sour cream on each one then garnish with pistachio nuts. Serve warm.
