My husband recently came across a T-shirt online printed with the following message: “When Life Gives You Potatoes, Make Latkes!” Clever, I thought, and with the celebration of Hanukkah just a week away, so appropriate.
However, latkes weren’t always made with potatoes. In fact, potatoes are a New World vegetable that did not make it to Europe until well into the 16th century and were not widely grown there until the 19th century. We know that latkes were eaten to celebrate Hanukkah as far back as the Middle Ages.
So, what type of latkes were our ancestors eating back then?
Oil is crucial to making a good latke and, of course, crucial to the story of Hanukkah. When the Jews were rededicating the Second Temple, there was only a small cruse of oil, just enough to keep the Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) burning for one day. Miraculously, it burned for eight days until more oil could be brought back to the temple. To commemorate this miracle, we light eight candles, one for each night, and eat latkes fried in oil.
Cheese was a central part of a Middle Ages diet, and thus it is likely that the first latkes for Hanukkah were prepared from a dry farmer’s cheese, a latke that Gil Marks, in his book “The World of Jewish Cooking,” calls zeesh kaese latkes (translated as Ashkenazic sweet cheese pancakes). Michael Wex suggests in his book “Rhapsody in Schmalz” that the brains of cattle may also have been used to make latkes — but we won’t go there. We do know for certain that their latkes were not made with potatoes.
But not all our ancestors back then could afford to buy cheese, so many families made their Hanukkah latkes from affordable grains such as buckwheat and rye flour, or from a variety of root vegetables such as turnips and carrots.
That would change again in the 19th century, when the New World vegetable, the potato, became ubiquitous throughout Eastern Europe. Potatoes were a staple for many impoverished Jewish families living in the shtetls — essentially, the staple of peasants. Potatoes were affordable, plentiful, healthy and filling. It was not unusual, for example, for families to have some version of a potato dish at least three days a week and always as part of the traditional Shabbat stew, cholent. And thus, potato latkes became the tradition that would be passed on to generations of Jews.
But while the potato latke became the norm in Eastern Europe, it wasn’t the only type of popular latke. In Fania Lewando’s brilliant but simple cookbook, “The Vilna Vegetarian Cookbook,” published in Yiddish in 1938, she devotes an entire chapter to latkes. She offers recipes for carrot latkes, potato latkes, mashed potato latkes, rice latkes, Ukrainian cheese latkes (called sirnikes), Polish dumplings, farina latkes, buttermilk latkes, apple latkes and blueberry dumplings.
In the United States today, you can find Jewish delicatessens (such as Mile End Deli in New York City) that offer an assortment of latkes, everything from celery-root parsnip latkes to butternut squash latkes to zucchini latkes to Indian-flavored latkes to cauliflower cumin latkes to beet latkes to an oven-baked latke that is served in slices much like a traditional rosti from Switzerland.
While my family appreciates Emeril Lagasse’s advice and “kick it up a notch!” I have included a few latke recipes along with some suggestions for elevating your standard potato latke into something new and exciting. And, if you and your family have been down this road before and have come up with a great recipe for latkes using something other than potatoes, please share your recipe with me.
Happy Hanukkah!
| RELATED: Five easy ways to get the smell of fried latkes out of your house
Recipe: Zucchini and Feta Cheese Latkes
(Though I am including a recipe for a roasted tomato topping for these fabulous latkes at the bottom, they are also delicious topped with a dollop of sour cream and/or applesauce.)
Ingredients
½ medium yellow onion, peeled and coarsely chopped
1 clove garlic, peeled and coarsely chopped
¾ lb. zucchini, ends trimmed and discarded
1½ tsp. coarse kosher salt, divided
1 tsp. chopped fresh basil
½ tsp. chopped fresh oregano
⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, or to taste ½ c. small crumbles of feta cheese
1 egg, lightly mixed
¼ c. all-purpose flour or matzo meal
¼ tsp. baking powder
⅛ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
Olive or vegetable oil for frying
Roasted cherry tomatoes for topping (see recipe below) *
Directions
Process onion and garlic together in the bowl of a food processor until pureed. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer and let sit over the sink to drain a minute or two; transfer to a medium bowl.
In the same food processor bowl, with the coarse grater in place, grate the zucchini (this can also be done on a hand grater). Transfer the zucchini to a mesh strainer (you could line it with a piece of cheesecloth which would make squeezing it later much easier); add 1 teaspoon of salt. Use your hands to mix well; let drain for 20-30 minutes. Use your hands or the cheesecloth to ring out as much as the moisture from the zucchini as you can. Add the zucchini to the bowl with onion and garlic.
Preheat oven to 200 degrees and have a rack set over a baking sheet for later.
Add the remaining half teaspoon of salt, basil, oregano, black pepper, feta cheese and the egg. Gently mix everything together. Sprinkle mixture with flour and baking powder and gently fold into vegetable mixture.
Heat a 9- or 10-inch skillet with just enough oil to cover the bottom. When oil is hot, use a large spoon to drop mounds of batter into the hot oil. Let fry over medium heat for three minutes on each side, and then transfer latkes to prepared baking sheet. Place fried latkes in the oven to keep warm and crisp while you make a second batch.
Transfer latkes to a platter and dollop with roasted cherry tomatoes or sour cream and applesauce.
Makes about eight small latkes. Recipe can be easily doubled
*(To make roasted tomato topping, heat oven to 425 degrees. Place a pint of cherry tomatoes into a small baking pan. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with salt and black pepper. Tear two basil leaves and mix them in along with one peeled garlic clove. Roast until tomatoes burst, for about 15 minutes. Topping can be made up to three days ahead; reheat before serving.)
Recipe: Zeesih Kaese Latkes (Ashkenazic Sweet Cheese Pancakes)
Recipe adapted from “The World of Jewish Cooking” by Gil Marks
Ingredients
1 lb. ricotta cheese
4 large eggs
About ¾ c. flour or matzo meal
2 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted, or sour cream
2½ tbsp. sugar
¾ tsp. vanilla extract
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
½ tsp. kosher salt
Olive oil for frying
Fresh lemon juice for drizzling over cooked latkes
Sour cream, maple syrup, jam, fresh berries, blueberry sauce or yogurt to accompany latkes
Directions
Combine cheese, eggs, flour, butter or sour cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest and salt in a food processor bowl. Process until smooth and evenly mixed.
Heat a 10-inch skillet (nonstick works great) with enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. When oil is hot, drop generous tablespoons of batter onto the pan, leaving a little space between each one. Fry two to three minutes and then turn over for one or two minutes more or until latkes are golden brown.
Makes about 30 latkes.
Recipe: Carrot, Parsnip and Turnip Latkes
This is another delicious latke, and it freezes so well. Once they have been fried and cooled completely on a rack, place them into freezer bags using pieces of wax paper to keep them separated. Fifteen minutes before you are ready to serve them, remove from the freezer and preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lay frozen latkes on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet and bake for about 12 minutes or until latkes sizzle. Then serve, as desired.
Ingredients
½ lb. parsnips, trimmed and peeled
½ lb. turnip, trimmed and peeled
1 large or 2 medium carrots, trimmed and scraped
½ of a medium yellow onion
½ c. flour or matzo meal
2 tbsp. finely chopped parsley
2 tbsp. (approximately 3) finely chopped green onions (scallions)
3 large eggs, lightly beaten
½ tbsp. kosher salt
¼ tsp. freshly ground black pepper, plus more to taste
Olive oil for frying
Sour cream or crème fraîche, and chunky applesauce, for accompanying the latkes
Directions
Grate the parsnips, turnip and carrots on the large holed shredding disc of a food processor or by hand on a box grater. Transfer vegetables to a bowl. Grate the onion and transfer it to a piece of cheesecloth or a double layer of paper towels. Squeeze out the liquid from the onions over your sink. Transfer to bowl of vegetable mix to evenly distribute all the vegetables.
Sprinkle the flour or matzo meal, along with the parsley and green onions over the vegetables. Toss to combine. Add the eggs, salt and black pepper and mix until everything is evenly combined.
Heat enough oil to cover the bottom of a large skillet over medium-low heat. When the oil is hot, form four- to five-inch patties and carefully set them into the pan of hot oil. Cook for three minutes and carefully turn them over. Cook for two to three minutes more or until the latkes are brown and crisp. They can be kept warm in a pan for up to 30 minutes in a 200-degree oven.
Makes about 10 latkes. Recipe can be easily doubled.
