Chappy Chanukah! Let’s Fry Up Some Birds’ Nest Latkes!

December 18, 2014

Happy Hanukkah everyone! It’s that time of year when Jews the world over pretend that our winter holiday is as fun and important as Christmas! Well, I happen to think there is no need for pretending. Not only is Hannukah 8 days instead of 1 (or 1.5, ish), but the traditional food is simply fried stuff. For Christmas, the holiday calls for turkey, goose, crap like that. But for Channukah, you just have to fry shit up! Whatever you want! It’s like a vegan’s dream! Unless you’re one of those vegans.

Why do we fry shit, you ask? Well, Channakah celebrates one of the many, many times the Jews were persecuted and driven from their land, but that time, they won! After the very serious and tragic war, of which I know many details, them fightin’ Jews – or really the Maccabees, I think this is when that word became a thing – sought refuge in a Temple and tried to light the Menorah to commemorate their victory. But they only found enough oil for one night. Oh well, they said, let’s light it up. And behold, the oil burned for 8 nights instead of just 1. It was a miracle! And so we celebrate Hahnuckah for 8 nights, and we celebrate by putting a culinary spotlight on burning oil, i.e., frying stuff. It’s a magical time.
During this Chabanakah, I will share several fun recipes for fried stuff. First up, I want to offer a way to do traditional latkes, or potato pancakes, but with a fun twist. There are tons of latke recipes out there, presenting perfect little fried circles of grated potato and onion. But I can’t be arsed with making perfect shapes when I fry. Ain’t nobody got time for that. Instead, I mixed long strings of sweet potato, zucchini, and just a little plain potato and fried them in big, messy birds’ nests, the ideal shape for throwing tons of dips or sauces into. This is also because I have a spiralizer and I don’t like using the grater. This is a versatile recipe so feel free to use whatever your heart desires. Except for less oil. Your heart loves oil.

Zucchini & Sweet Potato Birds’ Nests Latkes

Ingredients:

1 large zucchini, spiralized or mandolined into long strings
1 large sweet potato, bestringed
1 small white potato, grated/shredded
1/2 cup plain flour
2 tablespoons of ground flaxseed mixed with 3 tablespoons hot water
2 teaspoons salt
fresh black pepper to your liking
lots of vegetable or canola or olive oil for frying

Directions:

First, mix the flax and hot water, stir it, and let it sit while you prepare the vegetables. You’re making a flax egg. Congratulations! It should be about 1/4 cup flax egg.
Bestring all the potatoes.
In a large bowl, mix all the ingredients well, with your hands.
Get your frying pan. Heat about 3 tablespoons of oil in the pan over medium heat, about a minute. Drop handfuls of the mixture into the oil.
Press down with a spatula as it cooks, about 5-6 minutes each side. Be careful they don’t burn.
Place finished latkes on a flat dish or baking tray covered with paper towels, or brown paper bags, to sop up the oil.
Repeat and repeat, adding new oil with every batch.
If desired (or if they aren’t crispy enough), you can finish the latkes in the oven, at 200F for 20 minutes or so. I like to keep them in the oven after I’ve turned it off to make sure all the moisture is gone.
Enjoy! With whatever.

It’s so beeyootiful!

I like my big messy nesty latkes with ketchup. I know that is kind of gross. But the traditional sour cream is much grosser. Applesauce is the other traditional latke dip, but that’s weird to me. I don’t like mixing fruit in my savory food! In an awesome twist, I put mac & cheese on top of these tonight. Stay tuned for that mac & cheese in the next post!