Latkes!

My father is Jewish and my mom is Spanish/Sicilian, which growing up was the best thing ever. We celebrated every holiday, I learned both cultures, and more importantly, was exposed to all foods from each culture. My mom was always a fantastic cook, but when she married my dad, she broadened her cooking abilities even more and taught herself all of the Jewish foods; matzoh balls and latkes to name a few. Latkes were always one of my favorites (who doesn't like fried potatoes with onions?) and when my mom sent me the recipe, it almost seemed to easy....but in reality.... it IS that easy! Only three ingredients are required, and it will take little to no effort to make!

Latkes

2 lbs. of potatoes (approx.)
1 medium onion
1 shallot
Sour Cream or Apple Sauce to serve with

>Take out your ingredients -- I didn't measure my 2 lbs of potatoes exactly so I used about 6 regular sized russet potatoes

>Peel your potatoes and set in a bowl of cold water (this will wash them off while keeping them from browning while you prepare the other ingredients).
>Peel your onion and shallot (**the Shallot is my mom's secret ingredient to give it some extra flavor!)
>Take the potatoes out of the water and get ready to food process everything!
>Use the shredding blade in the food processor and process ALL the ingredients.

>Transfer all that's been processed into a mesh strainer and place over a bowl.
>Stir around your ingredients thoroughly so as to evenly distribute the onion, potatoes, and shallot.
>Now press down on the mixture to release as much water as possible from the potatoes/onions/shallot. This is EXTREMELY important because this process also yields potato starch into your bowl, which is an important ingredient in the making of latkes.
>Once you've felt like most of the liquid is out of the potato mixture, remove the strainer to show what liquid you've gotten from it.
>You should be left with water that looks something like this. This is NOT the starch, the starch is actually settled at the bottom of this bowl. It is a white, denser liquid that you will be using. Slowly pour out the yellowish water so as to not disturb the starch that has settled at the bottom of the bowl.
>You will be left with this (as I so aptly labeled...)
>Mix back in your potato/onion/shallot mixture and MIX MIX MIX! Get that starch evenly distributed. I also took this time to add a pinch of salt and pepper.
>Now it's time to FRY! I use Canola Oil when pan frying things like latkes -- it's basically the same thing as Corn Oil or Veggie Oil, so whichever you have you can use.
>In a large frying pan pour about 1/4 inch deep of oil and start to heat up - once the oil is heated (about 2-3 minutes on high heat) you can add in your patties...
>Just with your hands, grab a little handful of the potato mixture and form into a patty (about 1/2 inch thick and 3-4 inches in diameter). You can then put the heat down to medium high (you don't want to burn the outside of the latke while the inside is still raw).
>Once you see them start to brown along the edges you can flip them over.
>I flip them multiple times until both sides have a perfect golden brown.
>Place on a plate lined with paper towels (the towels help absorb any excess oil that you don't want).
......This has nothing to do with latkes, but while I was making the latkes, Justin was making his famous and most delicious baby back ribs......the PERFECT pairing!
>Since I made the latkes ahead of time, to warm them up I put them in the oven on Hi broil for a couple of minutes.
YUMMMMMMM - Crispy and perfect latkes!
>Personally I like my latkes with Sour Cream but I know, for instance, my mom is more of an apple sauce kinda gal....
>This recipe yields about a dozen latkes

YUM YUM YUM! Happy Dining!

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