Happy second day of Chanukah! I hope you all have occasion to celebrate Jewish pride, religious freedom, fighting for what you believe in, and gratitude.

My plans for the holiday include eating and cooking a lot of latkas - such as these:
Butternut Squash Latkas
Healthy Vegetable Filled Latkas
Sweet Potato Curry Latkas
Potato Latkas topped with Pomegranate seeds and Greek Yogurt

Potato Latkas with Red and Green Onions and Apple

And here is one recipe I dreamed up - you may kvetch or kvell over.

Beet Latkas with Horseradish Creme Fraiche

1 potato, peeled
2 beets, peeled
1  small onion, peeled
1/3 cup of flour
1 egg
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/2 cup of creme fraiche
1/8 cup of beet horseradish

Slice the potato in two and feed into a food processor with a shredder disc attachment. Do the same with the beets and onion. Drain the grated vegetables in a large swath of cheese cloth and squeeze out as much moisture as you can.

Put the drained vegetables in a bowl and add the egg, flour, salt and pepper. Form the latkas by heaping tablespoons and flatten them out using the palm of your hand.

Heat the olive oil in a small nonstick pan over high heat. Place 2-4 latkas at a time in the pan and fry them for 2-3 minutes on each side- the oil should be hot enough that it turns the latkas a nice brown, but the oil never smokes. Drain the latkas on paper towels.

Mix the horseradish and creme fraiche and serve over the latkas.


What are your favorite latka and topping combinations?

If you're looking for a break from latkas how about some super easy nougat ice cream? Believe it or not it ties into the weekly portion that is read in synagogues this weekend, Parshat Miketz (my bat mitzvah parsha). Head over to my blog to get the scoop.