POTATO LATKES

It is not to late to make Latkes! Latkes are usually made during Hanukkah season which lasts for eight days. This year, Hanukkah began on December 22nd. Of course, potato latkes are good for any celebration and any Sunday Brunch. Over the years, we serve Potato Latkes for special occasions and to celebrate the first “real” potatoes of the season here on the Organic Farm. The traditional red and white potatoes are not ready to dig as early as the fingerlings. The first fingerlings of the season are in high demand by local Chefs and sell for too much money to be made into Latkes for the shoemakers children.

Here is a recipe from the Jewish Cookbook I bought the year I married into the Jewish culture. It is a 1965 paperback by Sara Kasdan, Love and Knishes: How To Cook Like A Jewish Mother

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups peeled and shredded potatoes
1 tablespoon grated onion
2 eggs, beaten

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour or 1 tablespoons/ matzo meal
1 teaspoons salt
½ cup shortening

To peel or not to peel.
Wash and scrub organic potatoes but do not peel. Including the peels adds to the taste. However, those other potatoes, whether they come from Newfoundland or P.E.I. may be sprayed weekly, through out the season, so leaving the peels on is not an option.

DIRECTIONS:
1. Place the potatoes in a cheesecloth and wring, extracting as much moisture as possible.
2. In a medium bowl stir the potatoes, onion, eggs, flour and salt together.
3. In a large heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat, heat the oil until hot. Place large spoonfuls of the potato mixture into the hot oil, pressing down on them to form 1/4 to ½ inch thick patties. Brown on one side, turn and brown on the other. Let drain on paper towels. Serve hot! Traditionally, Latkes are served with applesauce, or sour cream along with a sprinkle of finely chopped green onions. My Southern relatives often use ketchup.

How Many? How Much?
Don’t invite a crowd. This recipe serves 4 to 6 people. You will soon find that most people can eat as many small or medium size Latkes as you can provide. As an appetizer, we plan for 3 per person; for brunch or as side dish for a dinner meal, most people can eat six.

Tis the Season to be Thankful!
When you fill your plate with Latkes, give a toast to Vince Cumming, our wonderful farm helper from Bell Island. Vince caught the 7:20 ferry each morning, which meant getting up an hour earlier. Joe Scanlon, a retired junior high principal, picked Vince up at the Ferry on his way from St. John’s so they could be at work by 8 a.m. Joe worked as our farm manager for two years; this season, he worked a shorter day, in order to spend more time with his grandchildren. Joe managed the two greenhouses and was responsible for cucumbers and tomatoes. Vince was in charge of field production. Hardly a potato went to market or to our kitchen without being touched by Vince and his helpers.

Latkes Came With the Marriage
I grew up in Troy, Tennessee a small town in Northwest Tennessee, twelve miles from the Kentucky line and about 30 miles from the Mississippi River, which separates Tennessee from Missouri. Mike was born in New York City. We met at the University of Iowa. How we met, the marriage and bringing Mike home to meet “the family.” is another story. My home town was exclusively protestant, with six churches, the same number of service stations and Hailey’s, the general store, which sold everything from gifts to paint. School activities followed the protestant traditions. No other celebrations or rituals were talked about and certainly not introduced formally in the curriculum The only Jewish family I knew in Tennessee lived in the next town, South on the way to Memphis. We went to Obion often to visit my grandmother. We sometimes stopped into Lemans to buy fabric for my mother’s sewing projects and occasionally a sweater or slack suit, when they went on sale. But everything was strictly business. We knew the Lemans were Jewish, because their son was not permitted to date my mother’s younger sister because she was a Methodist. The Catholic Church and the Synagogue were in Union City, a larger town in the opposite direction, ten miles North. We didn’t know anything about Catholics either, until my Uncle, who was in the Navy married a Catholic woman from New York City. This began our experience with the Catholic religion, at least the part which affected us, like the rules for getting married in the Catholic Church, rearing children and abstaining from eating meat on Fridays..

Mike and I were married in the summer of 1965. It was a very interesting to begin to learn about Hanukkah, the stream of gifts for days and lighting the candles each night so that by the eighth night, all candles are burning brightly. It was years later than I learned that the real meaning of Hanukkah extends back to 164 B.C.E. and is a reminder of how the ancient Jews fought to practice their religion, a celebration of a miracle and a festival of light.

Like most cultures, Mike’s family celebrated Jewish holidays with large home cooked meals at the home of one family member or another. I was introduced to Latkes at the home of a cousin in North Miami. They were delicious and fit into the Southern tradition of potatoes here, potatoes there, potatoes everywhere. In that, where I grew up, potatoes were creamed, baked, fried, made into souffles, stews and almost every other form of cooking, except Latkes I found potato Latkes easy to make and a way to impress my Jewish relatives as well as my brothers and Mom and Dad.

You say, Pancake, I say Latkes.
Last summer, we had an abundance of Jerusalem artichokes, which are also known as sunchokes. While I was looking for different recipes for using the artichokes, I found a recipe for Sunchoke Latkes. It was then I realized that the term, Latke means pancake. This put my creative mind to work. Why not add onions and turn some of the other vegetables into zucchini latkes or carrot latkes. In fact, I still have a few parsnips from this season. Perhaps we’ll have parsnip latkes on Sunday. Doesn’t that sound much more interesting than zucchini bread or another carrot cake? The recipe for Potato Latkes is offered here because they are traditionally served during Hanukkah, but look for more Latke recipes next season!

We wish you Much Happiness and Good Health for the New Year!

Melba Rabinowitz
December, 2008