December 11, 2017

Oven-Fried Potato Latkes

dani@slyrooster.com Vegetarian breakfast, Hanukkah, holiday, hors d'oeuvres, Jennifer Segal, Jewish, Once Upon A Chef, pancakes, potato 3 Comments

The Jewish Holiday of Hanukkah starts tomorrow at sundown and unlike some Jewish “delicacies” (insert: gefilte fish), you don’t have to be Jewish to love latkes. Traditionally potato, modern latke varieties include sweet potato, carrot, parsnip or any combination of potato and root vegetable. These shredded pancakes, flecked with onion and bound with flour (or matzoh meal) and egg, are fried in oil–the oil being the link to the celebration of Hanakkah. As the story goes, the holiday commemorates the miracle that happened when one days worth of olive oil miraculously kept the menorah of a rededicated temple in Jerusalem lit for eight nights. I’m simplifying things here but you get the drift…potatoes fried in oil, umm, “Yes, please!”

My family was excited to kick off the holiday season this past Saturday night with a Latkes & Vodka party hosted by our warm and wonderful friends, the Millers. After reconnecting with many old friends and making some new ones, I worked my way over to the latke station. Here I would have been perfectly happy to find a platter of potato latkes surrounded by the traditional accompaniments of sour cream and apple sauce and I was not disappointed because the traditional were certainly represented. But alongside these perfectly fried beauties there were chaffing dishes of carrot latkes and sweet potato latkes and accoutrements inclusive of fig jam, blue cheese, tzatiki and smoked salmon. Needless to say, I paced myself and managed to sample a little of everything. I left the Millers with a renewed appreciation of latkes which is why I am writing my second blog post on the subject.

In my first, I focused on traditional potato latkes, New York-style. This time around, I am going to share the method of my friend Jennifer Segal of Once Upon a Chef fame for Oven Fried Potato Latkes. Yes, once again, I am deferring to Jenn and while I’m at it, I encourage you to preorder her cookbook, which will be released Spring 2018, here. Another friend brought this method to my attention and it was an immediate “A-ha!” moment. Of course, frying the potato patties on a baking sheet slicked with oil makes perfect sense. Eliminating the stovetop pan of splattering oil and cooking batches of a dozen latkes at a time is cleaner, more efficient and healthier than the tradition pan-fried technique. For me, it’s a game changer. As Jenn emphasizes in her recipe introduction, the use of unlined, non-stick pans is essential. The patties will stick if you try to get away with anything other than non-stick or attempt to line the pans with foil. 

So go ahead and try the oven method this week with your own recipe or the Once Upon A Chef recipe shared below. And if you are not celebrating Hanakkah, I still encourage you to give latkes a try. They are a fantastic side dish with any roast, braise or stew. Made smaller (bite-size), latkes topped with a dollop of sour cream and a small piece of smoked salmon or a spoonful of caviar make for an elegant holiday hors d’oeuvre. And don’t get me started on latkes topped with a poached or fried egg. Breakfast perfection. Enjoy and Happy Hanukkah!