HALLIE EPHRON: Tonight is the first night of Hanukah, and it's my excuse to make potato pancakes. AKA latkes. I've shared them before here on Jungle Red, but it's a subject that bears repeating.
These homemade potato pancakes are one of those somewhat labor-intensive but super easy and spectacularly delicious treats that cannot be matched by anything store-bought or restaurant-made.
Hold the potato pancake mix. Feh.
This is not a make-ahead dish. Once you grate the potatoes, you need to wring them out and mix in the egg and flour, fry them AND EAT THEM.
Do not pause. Do not pass go.
My advice: do not attempt to cook anything else at the same time.
Prepare them. Fry them in batches. Eat them hot as they come out of the pan (after a quick rest to drain on paper towel). If you insist on being an over-achiever and serve these with a meal, they can be put in a warm oven on the kind of rack you use to cool cookies.
All they really need is a shake of salt, but sour cream or applesauce go nicely with them, too.
I make them with a dinner that's got everything else hot and ready to go. (Roast chicken. Or a pot roast.) Maybe a salad that's ready to be plated. And bowls of sour cream and (because my grandson loves it) applesauce.
Here's how...
Potato pancakes - Serves 4
2 large (or 4 medium-sized) unpeeled potatoes (Russets work well)
1 egg
Flour
Cooking oil (vegetable or peanut oil; not olive oil)
Caution – once you start preparing, don’t stop until all the potatoes are cooked. Grated potatoes left to stand will turn dark and yucky looking.
Preheat the oven so you can keep the first batches warm while you cook the rest.
1. Grate the potatoes using the large holes on a hand grater or food processor (slightly less good imhop).
2. Dump the grated potatoes into a clean linen cloth dish towel; over the sink, wring out as much liquid as you can. Squeeze, and squeeze again! THIS STEP IS CRITICAL.
3. Dump the wrung-out potatoes into a mixing bowl; add an egg and a scant handful of flour. Mix.
4. Heat oil in a frying pan until the oil shimmers.
5. Ladle in one-tablespoon size pancakes into the hot oil. Flatten and cook until golden brown and crisp on one side, then turn and cook until golden brown and crisp on the other.
6. Drain cooked potato pancakes on paper towel. If they don't get scarfed up immediately, put them on a cookie rack on a cookie sheet in the oven until ready to serve.
7. Cook batches until all are cooked.
8. Serve with salt and your choice of apple sauce and/or sour cream.
What are you cooking for the holidays that, unlike my potato latkes, you can make ahead and relax when you serve it up?