No Hanukkah festivity is complete without what some feel are the three essentials needed to celebrate this holiday correctly ? a menorah, a dreidel and a frying pan.
Yes, a frying pan.
“What?s better than fried foods?” said Amy Borth, of Baltimore, who has been celebrating Hanukkah since she was a child. “Hanukkah was always a big deal for us ? and I still celebrate with my parents.”
The fried foods serve as an edible reminder of the miracle that followed the defeat of the invading Syrians more than 2,100 years ago.
Having only one day?s supply of oil, the Maccabees needed to rededicate the temple in Jerusalem. Miraculously, the oil lasted for eight days. Cooking in oil honors that miracle, and no Hanukkah celebration would be complete without potato latkes, or potato pancakes.
“Years ago, people didn?t necessarily use potatoes for their latkes,” said Joan Nathan, author of the James Beard Foundation Award-winning cookbook “New American Cooking and Jewish Cooking in America.”
“People just used what they had on hand as ingredients to make their latkes,” she said.
And don?t get the great latke debate started.
“I like my latkes to be grated, so they are crispy like hash browns,” Borth said. “But my mom uses the family recipe of pureeing the mixture, which gives the latkes a softer consistency.”
“I like to play around with a lot of flavors,” Nathan said. “I always experiment with my latkes and use ingredients like celery root, beets, apples, zucchini, parsnips and even sweet potato and curry.”
Roland Park resident Claudia Diamond, a mother of one, may have the best recipe of all.
“I?m a neatnik, and it?s really messy to make latkes,” she said. “So every year, I go to Whole Foods and buy my latkes for a little Hanukkah party with Jewish and nonJewish neighbors. Everyone always asks me for the recipe.”
And there?s no shame in that at all.
Ultimate Potato Pancakes
2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
6 Tbs. chopped chives
Salt and pepper
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil, for sautéing
Crème fraîche, smoked salmon, or sour cream for garnish
INSTRUCTIONS
1. Grate the potatoes by hand or in a food processor using the thinnest grating blade.
Scoop up 1/4 ofthem with your hands and squeeze out the excess liquid and discard, then put in a mixing bowl and add the eggs, chives, salt and pepper. Blend.
2. Heat 1 Tbs. of the olive oil in a 10-inch, nonstick sauté pan over high heat.
Place the potato mixture into the pan and spread out as thinly as possible until it covers the surface of the pan.
3. Reduce the heat to medium-low. Cook about 5 minutes.
4. Place a plate slightly larger than the pan over the top.
Flip the pan over so the pancake drops onto the plate, then slide the pancake back into the pan.
Cook for about 4 more minutes, until the underside is brown.
5. Repeat these steps for the remaining pancakes, starting with 1 Tbs. of oil for each one.
Yield: 4 large pancakes
Source: Adapted from “The New American Cooking” by Joan Nathan
