Potato Latkes
Potato latkes are a favorite food during the festival of Hanukkah. We celebrate the miracle of the holiday by cooking foods in oil in remembrance of the oil that was used to consecrate the temple, which lasted eight days instead of only one.
Ingredients:
- 4 large potatoes – peeled and grated
- 1 large onion – peeled and grated
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour (or matzah meal)
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 cup of vegetable oil
- 4 oz. of sour cream
- 4 oz. of applesauce
Instructions:
- Place the grated potato and onion in a colander and press lightly to remove most of the moisture and let stand 30 minutes.
- Place the potato mixture in a bowl and add the eggs and mix it in with your hands.
- Add the flour and mix thoroughly.
- Add the salt and pepper.
- Take an ice cream scoop of the potato mixture and place in your hands and then form a round patty (latke). Repeat 8 times and place the patties on a baking sheet.
- Heat ½ cup of oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Place 4 latkes in the skillet and cook for 3 minutes or until the bottom is a golden brown color.
- Turn the latkes over and cook another 3 minutes.
- When the latkes are done, place them on a paper towel to absorb some of the oil.
- Add the remaining oil into the skillet and cook the other 4 latkes just like above.
- Take one latke and put it on a plate and serve it with a dollop of sour cream and applesauce.
Yield: 8 servings
Meet the Chef
Mitch was raised in a traditional Reform Jewish home near Boston. After graduating from high school, he attended the University of Massachusetts and focused on a culinary career. Mitch worked in some of the finest kitchens in Boston including the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, The Parker House and Le Meridien, achieving his goal of cooking with the best chefs in the world. In 1982 Mitch moved to San Francisco and cooked at some of the top restaurants on the West Coast as well. Mitch had a chance to work with other top chefs who introduced a new and lighter style of cooking to America, which became known throughout the United States as New American Cooking.
His destructive lifestyle, however, was detrimental to his career and he could no longer keep up with the high demands and pressures of cooking at the top. He was eventually fired from his job at Stars, once a top restaurant and one of the most creative kitchens in the country. He realized that his life was a wreck and prayed to God for the first time in years. The next day, he quit smoking and drinking. As Mitch began to trust God for the first time in his life, he talked with a Christian co-worker about the Bible and finally began to grasp the Gospel message. Mitch accepted Yeshua (Jesus) into his life in 1987.
Mitch now serves as Vice President of U.S. Ministries for Chosen People Ministries and oversees all recruitment, training, mentoring and leadership of the entire U.S.-based missionary staff. Mitch is married to Kina, a second-generation Jewish believer, and they have two daughters, Kaelee and Alana, and a son, Joshua.
