notes, quotes & anecdotes of a year fast passing

so grab your harmonica, it’s time for hannukah.

i apologize that this is so late - i think hannukah might be done? i don’t really know, to be quite honest. i didn’t light a single candle, spin a single dreidel or open a single present this hannukah. i have been all over the place, with too much work and no time to go home to celebrate with my family, BUT i’m not complaining — i’ll have lots of time to celebrate when i go home next week :)

but anywho. thanks to a suggestion from the most loyal commenter out there, brian, of “please welcome your judges fame,” i decided to make some latkes and have my own little festival of lights to get in the spirit before the holiday passed me by.

i sort of avoided the whole reason that you make latkes to commemorate hannukah though — you’re supposed to fry them in OIL, since OIL is one of the little symbols of the holiday. but in the interest of being a TINY bit healthier, i created some baked latkes. of course they’re not as indulgent and delicious as the REAL thing, but you get the point and they’re not bad.

ingredients:

four medium sized russet potatoes (each potato yields about 4-5 small latkes, so plan your recipe accordingly)

one small sweet onion

2 Tablespoons of whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons of minced garlic (just got some in a squeeze bottle and OMGOSH it’s fantastic)

salt and pepper

(for topping: sour cream or apple sauce! — i feel like this is a debate for the ages, but as i am with most things, i’m totally diplomatic and fine with either option)

done with the collecting? good. onto the doing.

first, take two baking sheets and put them in a 450-degree oven. next, wash and peel your potatoes. while you’re at it, peel off the top layer(s) of the onion, too.

now, grate your potatoes with a fairly coarse-size grater. some people put their latkes in a food processor, but i think this gives them so much more texture! consider them… festive hashbrowns.

once you’re done grating, you’ll realize just how much water is in potatoes — first, grab a handful and squeeze over the sink to get out a lot of the water. then, put all the grated potatoes in a paper towel-lined bowl to try to squeeze out even more of the excess water. i’ve heard that laying all the grated potatoes out on a dish cloth and rolling it tightly squeezes out a lot, too. i just didn’t want to get my dish cloths all gross since laundry isn’t my favorite activity.

do the same with the onion and then mix the two together in a bowl. the potatoes turned sort of pink, which weirded me out. almost like how an apple turns brown when it’s been uncovered in the air too long, this turned pink. i still don’t get it.

add all the other ingredients (slightly scrambled egg, salt, pepper, garlic, flour). mix together until all of the potatoes are coated.

now, take the HOT, HOT, HOT baking sheets out of the oven and spray them with nonstick cooking spray. then, spoon little mountains of potato mixture onto them, spaced out. flatten them out a bit, too.

bake these for 10 minutes at 450 degrees. then, remove from the oven and spray the “raw” side (the one facing up) with cooking spray and then flip them over and put back in the oven for another 8 minutes or until they’re golden brown.

eat them while they’re still hot and top them with either apple sauce, sour cream or eat them plain AND a word to the wise… when you reheat them, DO NOT do it in the microwave unless soggy latkes are your thing. especially since these didn’t start off as the crispiest latkes because of their lack of frying, you should just reheat them in the oven at 350 for 7-10 minutes or something to prep them as leftovers.