Being part of the family here in Chicagoland (actually, Northwest Burblcavia) means that I get to partake of some seasonal delights and occasionally take a stab at cooking them.
Take latkes. Please! Take another! I like them a lot. But they can be really greasy and high in calories. A few years back, I had run across a really great recipe that makes a huge amount of latkes, but it also calls for a boatload of oil. It also comes with philosophical musings: The Constitutional Foundations of Shirley Edelman’s Latke.
However, I happened across the following recipe in my news feed, from the Salt Lake Tribune of all that’s good and holy. I notice this doesn’t call for matzoh meal – this recipe might need its own First Amendment.
Healthy Plate: Satisfying latkes with less fat, calories – Salt Lake Tribune
1 1/2 pounds Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and grated
1 medium sweet onion, grated 3/4 cup
2 medium shallots, grated 1/4 cup
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
8 teaspoons canola oil
Heat the oven to 450 F. Lightly coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Spread the grated potatoes, onions and shallots on a clean dish towel or a large piece of cheesecloth. Roll up the towel and squeeze over the sink to extract as much liquid as possible from the mixture. Transfer the mixture to a large bowl.
Add the flour, salt and pepper, then toss to mix well and coat the vegetables with the dry ingredients. Add the beaten egg and 2 teaspoons of the oil to the potato mixture, then toss well.
In a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat, heat 2 teaspoons of the oil.
Using a 1/4 cup measure to scoop the potato mixture, make 4 latkes in the skillet. Use a spatula to flatten each mound of potato batter into a 3-inch pancake. Cook until crispy and lightly brown, 2 to 3 minutes per side.
Transfer the latkes to the prepared baking sheet. Repeat using the remaining oil and potato mixture to fry 2 more batches.
When all of the latkes are fried and arranged on the baking sheet, place the sheet in the oven and bake until the latkes are crispy and hot, about 10 minutes.
Nutrition information per serving values are rounded to the nearest whole number: 89 calories; 25 calories from fat; 3 g fat 0 g saturated; 0 g trans fats; 21 mg cholesterol; 13 g carbohydrate; 2 g protein; 1 g fiber; 205 mg sodium.
Servings: 12
Twelve servings is a pretty reasonable number. Shirley’s recipe feeds anywhere from 2 to 10 people in theory, but when we made it we had a huge bowl of potato mixture and it seemed like we could have fed a regiment. I think these could also be frozen between layers of wax paper and reheated later, but they’re much better served hot and crispy, with sour cream AND applesauce (my husband David is an applesauce-only guy).
Sorry, Shirley, we may have to cheat on you just a little bit. But we’ll honor the spirit of your recipe if not the letter of it and throw in some matzoh meal.
