Latkes or potato pancakes are Esther’s favorite Chanukah food. The Jewish custom of eating foods fried or baked in oil comes from the original miracle of the Chanukah menorah, which involved the discovery of a small flask of oil that lasted many more days than it should have—which is why the “Festival of Lights” is eight days long and is marked each night by the lighting of a new candle! Here’s Esther’s own unique spin on her mom’s traditional latke recipe, which adds the pungent flavor of roasted garlic as well as the aromatic notes of rosemary and scallion. You can even try experimenting with this recipe, replacing the fresh rosemary with a favorite herb of your choice. Serve the pancakes plain or with sour cream on the side. Yum!
Makes 2 servings or about nine 3- to 4-inch latkes; for family-size meals, you’ll want to double, triple, or quadruple this recipe and have two frying pans working at the same time!
10 garlic cloves, roasted and smashed (see note)
¾ cup onions (2 to 3 medium size onions), finely grated
2 tablespoons scallions, finely chopped
1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary (optional) or ½ teaspoon dried rosemary
2 teaspoons salt
1½ pounds Idaho baking potatoes (about 3 medium russet potatoes)
1 large egg, beaten with a fork
Canola or light olive oil
Sour cream (optional)
Step 1—Prepare aromatics: First, preheat the oven to 250°F. In a large bowl, combine the garlic with the onions, scallions, rosemary, and salt.
Step 2—Grate potatoes: Do not peel your potatoes. Grate by hand with a simple box grater, or use a food processor. Add the grated potatoes to the bowl of aromatics and stir well.
Step 3—Press out moisture: Place the potato mixture in a large sieve and press down to strain out moisture. Esther notes that getting rid of excess moisture will help you create latkes that are crisp and golden brown. Now return the mixture to the bowl and stir in the egg to finish your latke mixture. Cook immediately.
Step 4—Fry pancakes: Place a heavy frying pan over medium heat and add oil, at least ½ inch deep. As Esther says, “Don’t freak over the amount of oil. It’s the temperature of the oil that makes for greasy latkes, not the amount of oil. Besides, the mitzvah is the oil!” When the oil is hot enough, begin cooking. (See note at the end of recipe on judging when oil is hot enough.) Pack potato mixture into a ¼ cup measuring cup. Turn out onto a plate in a little mound. Do this four times. Place the four mounds in quick succession into the hot oil and immediately flatten each mound into a 3- to 4-inch pancake. (Flattening is important or you may have latkes that are cooked on the edges but raw in the middle!) Cook each pancake for about 3 minutes on the first side, until the bottom is golden brown. Now flip and cook the other side 1-3 minutes until it’s golden brown, too. Do not flip more than once, but Esther suggests lightly pressing the pancakes a few times with your spatula during the cooking process to make sure the centers cook. Drain in a single layer on paper towels. Keep finished latkes warm in the 250ºF oven while you’re cooking the rest of the batter. Serve warm with sour cream!
NOTE: If your oil is too hot, you’ll burn the latkes. If your oil is too cool, your latkes will be greasy. Test the oil with a drop of water. When it dances or bounces on top of the oil, it’s ready. If the oil begins to smoke, it’s too hot! Also keep in mind that if you crowd the pan with too many latkes, the oil temperature will drop dramatically, so don’t fry too many at once—for big batches, have two pans going at the same time.
Using a whole head: Cut the top off the head (the pointed end), then wrap in aluminum foil and bake at 350°F for 30-40 minutes, until the garlic is soft. Remove from the oven. Let the foil-wrapped garlic cool down enough to handle. Pop the warm, roasted garlic pieces out of their skin and you’re good to go. Roasted garlic is delicious and good for you! Try spreading it on slices of a French baguette or Italian bread, or mashing it and mixing it into your mashed potatoes!
Using prepeeled cloves from a jar or green market: Place your peeled cloves into a small ovenproof dish, drizzle with a bit of oil (olive is best), and add a splash of water. Cover with foil, place in the oven, and bake as described for a whole head.
As a fine arts painter, Dante appreciates the jewel-toned colors of the traditional holiday fruitcake, but he never tasted a fruitcake he actually liked. This is his solution—yummy, buttery, refrigerator cookies with chopped candied fruit peeking through the batter like stained glass windows in a brown brick church. Like a hot cross bun, the simple snow-white glaze cross finishes off each treat, reminding us all of the reason for the season.
Makes 2 to 3 dozen refrigerator cookies, depending on how you slice them
½ cup (1 stick) butter, softened to room temperature
1/3 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 egg, beaten with a fork
¼ cup sour cream
½ teaspoon orange extract or 1½ teaspoons Grand Marnier
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon lemon zest, freshly grated
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon allspice
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
1½ cups candied fruit, finely chopped and drained of any liquid (see note)
¼ cup pecans, chopped (optional)
Step 1—Make your dough: Using an electric mixer, cream the butter and the sugars. Add the eggs, sour cream, orange extract, vanilla, and lemon zest, and blend well. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, allspice, and nutmeg.
Step 2—Fold in your goodies: Using a large spoon or spatula, fold in the chopped fruit and (optional) pecans.
Step 3—Form your log and chilclass="underline" Dust your hands with flour. Dump your dough onto a nice big sheet of wax paper. Form the dough into a long log about 1 foot in length and 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the log up tightly in the wax paper and chill well in refrigerator—at least 3 full hours. (Overnight is even better. You can even make the dough in advance of baking and keep in the fridge for a day or two.)
Step 4—Bake, cool, and glaze: First, preheat the oven to 375ºF. When ready to bake, unwrap your well-chilled log and make uniform slices between ¼ and ½ inch in thickness. Slicing tip: use a sharp, smooth knife (one that is not serrated) and press straight down, no sawing. Place cookies on a lined or greased cookie sheet and bake for 9-13 minutes. Cool completely and serve plain or drizzle a cross, like a hot cross bun, over each cookie with the easy Snow-White Glaze (recipe follows).