A lotta latkes

Happy Hanukkah to all my fellow members of the tribe! While I’m sure most people have their own family recipe for latkes, I thought I’d share mine here for those of you who may not have been blessed with these delicious fried potatoes made with love by your grandma almost every year of your life.

Please make these today (you probably already have everything you need in your fridge!) and make sure to make extra, so you can snack on them like cookies late in the night and/or re-fry the next morning for breakfast, topped with a fried egg. DO IT.

Makes about 12-14 latkes

What You’ll Need

5 medium-sized potatoes, grated
1 medium yellow onion, grated
1/3 cup of flour
2 eggs
2 tsp. salt, plus a little more for finishing
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
1/2 tsp. black pepper
Vegetable/canola oil

What You’ll Do

– First off, figure out if you should peel your potatoes or not. If they’re russets, peel ’em. If they’re Yukon golds or similar, leave the skins on. You can use any combo of potatoes (I used 4 russets and 1 Yukon gold because that’s just what I had, but it really doesn’t matter) and the same goes for the onions. Sweet, white, yellow, who cares? The first rule of latke-making: There are no rules. GET WILD.

– Now that you’re wild, grate your potatoes and onions. I hope you have a grating attachment on your food processor. If not, grate your stuff by hand and when your hand is nice and cramped, come back here for the next step.

– Place your grated onions and potatoes in a linen towel-lined bowl. Squeeze out all the liquid. When the potatoes hit air, they might turn gray, but no worries. You’ll be frying those bad-boys up in boiling hot lava and then slathering them with sour cream. Don’t fret about a little grayness.

– While you’re busy wringing the potatoes — I recommend the buddy system for this — get your oil heating. I used a cast-iron skillet with about 1/4″ to 1/2″ of oil. You just want enough oil to cover the latkes about halfway. I heated mine on medium-high heat (#8 on my dial.)

– When the potatoes are nice and dry, add the flour, eggs, and seasonings. Add more garlic powder and pepper if you’re into that sort of thing.

– Next up: shape your latkes into patties. The mixture will be a little liquidy, so you can either add more flour as needed or you can just gently squeeze out the extra liquid as your shape your latkes. I am a potato purist, so I don’t add more more filler to mine.

– Now, fry those potatoes! I fry my latkes for about 5 minutes total, 2 1/2 to 3 minutes on each side, depending on how they look. Dark and crispy? Gooooooood. When they’re done, lay them on a paper towel-lined plate and finish with a sprinkling of salt.

That top-right latke is almost done; the bottom-left latke needs more time

– Before you fry up your second batch, take a taste of one of the first latkes. You need to make sure all your seasonings are good! Sacrificing a latke is necessary! You’re the cook! Why are you justifying this!

– Adjust your seasonings as needed (although if you’ve added too much of something, you’re sort of screwed) and then finish frying up your latkes. Serve with sour cream and applesauce that you just whipped up amidst all this latke-making. Wow, you’re so awesome, Sarah. I mean, you! You’re so awesome, YOU!

– Enjoy! Share with your potato-wringing buddy and, if they’re lucky, the toddler of your choosing.

Latkes are a much better idea than this butternut squash-quinoa mixture which, you won’t be surprised to hear, wound up all over my floor.