Tonight marks the first night of Hanukkah—Happy Hanukkah to all of you who celebrate!  And how better to celebrate than with potato latkes? 

But don’t think you need to celebrate Hanukkah to enjoy these latkes.  I fell in love with potato pancakes long before I met and fell in love with my Jewish husband—now I get to celebrate a holiday that features latkes and jelly donuts!

There is some debate about whether latkes should be grated with the coarse or fine side of the grater.  I personally use the coarse side of the grater, but knock yourself out if you want to try the fine side.  The pancakes have a different texture depending on the coarseness of the grated potatoes, but both ways are yummy.  Just be forewarned that it takes much longer (with more risk of grated knuckles!) to use the fine side of the grater.  Now I’ve given away my secret of why I use the coarse grater!

There are still plenty of local potatoes available at the Westford Farmer’s Market at Eric's and other local food stands.  Two weeks ago I got a big bag of potatoes from Springdell Farm, and this past weekend Dragonfly Farm had two varieties of potatoes at the market.

Latkes are traditionally served with applesauce or sour cream.  I like both on my latkes.  I make my own very chunky applesauce—it’s pretty easy to prepare and cooks while I’m making the latkes.  I follow the applesauce recipe I posted here a few months ago, but only cook it for about half an hour to make a warm, very chunky apple not-quite-sauce.  But, a jar of applesauce works just fine if you don’t want to  make your own.

Ingredients:

• About 5 medium potatoes, peeled and coarsely grated (you’re looking for about 3 cups of grated potatoes, though it’s okay if it’s anywhere between 2 ½ and 3 ½ cups)
• 3 large eggs, lightly beaten (may need 4 eggs)
• ½ medium onion, peeled and grated or diced fine
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• Vegetable oil for frying

Directions:

1. Peel, wash, and coarsely grate the potatoes. Place a large handful of grated potatoes into a dish towel.  Wring out as much water as possible.  Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl and repeat with another handful of potatoes, until you have wrung out all the potatoes. Add the eggs, grated onion, flour, and salt to the potatoes.  Mix well.  Let sit for 2 minutes.  The resulting mixture should be kind of liquid-y: mostly potatoes, but definitely some liquid that settles to the bottom of the bowl. If the mixture seems dry, add a fourth egg. This is a very forgiving recipe. Sometimes I have a little more potato, sometimes a little less. Sometimes it's pretty liquid-y, sometimes it's more dry. It always turns out yummy, though!  I’ve included a picture of the uncooked potato mixture so you can get an idea of what it should look like.
2. Cover the bottom of a large skillet with approximately 1/4 inch of vegetable oil. Heat over medium heat until hot.  As a tip, you can use a wooden chopstick to test the oil. When the oil is hot enough, bubbles should form around the tip of the wooden chopstick when you dip it in the oil. You can then use the chopstick along with a spatula to help flip the pancakes.
3. Stir the potato mixture well, then drop a spoonful of potato mixture into the hot oil. Use the back of the spoon to spread the mixture out thinly. The thinner your pancakes, the crispier they will become so flatten them according to your preference--very thin if you like crispy pancakes, thicker if you like them more chewy.  Stir the potato mixture in the bowl between each spoonful you add to the pan so that the liquid doesn't just settle to the bottom of the bowl.
4. Fry until browned on the bottom, flip, and fry until the other side is browned. If the pancakes are browning too quickly or the oil is starting to smoke, turn the heat down.  If the oil is not bubbling when you put the pancakes in, or if the pancakes are cooking too slowly, turn the heat up.  I find it takes about two minutes per side to cook—the early batches might take a little longer and the later batches might take a little less time.  Remove cooked latkes to paper towels to drain.  Repeat until all the potato mixture has been made into latkes.

This makes approximately 16 pancakes.  Your mileage may vary depending on the size and thickness of your latkes.