"potato pancakes" news and stories

For the last few years I've been sort of smug about my latke ability. For some reason, I've always been able to turn out perfect, round, golden, crispy latkes on the first try. But after yesterday's debacle, I realize that it wasn't me, it was my recipe. You see, I decided to change my perfect recipe to include half sweet potatoes, thinking they'd incorporate just like the normal, starchy potatoes. Only they didn't. They were too hard and didn't have nearly enough starch, so my pancakes never stayed together. I instead ended up with a pan full of sweet potato/regular potato hash browns, which were delicious, but were not what I was going for.

So, if you were thinking about incorporating sweet potatoes into your latkes this weekend, make sure to follow a recipe (like this one from Epicurious, which uses are more egg and flour than I did). And, if you want the recipe that made me feel all smug about my latke abilities, that one is after the jump.

Source

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Hanukkah is known as the "festival of lights" and is a holiday in which oil has a special meaning. To put it very, very briefly, Hanukkah celebrates a miraculous occurrence where one night's worth of oil burned for eight. There is a lot of oil used in foods that are served for this holiday and much of it is used for frying. The two most well-know Hanukkah staples are sufganiyah (jelly-filled donuts) and latkes, or potato pancakes. As good as these two foods are, health-conscious holiday revelers don't always want to completely blow their diet with a meal of entirely fried foods, nor do they want to restrict themselves to only a few bites of this holiday favorite.

Another super-tasty Irish dish to enjoy on St Patrick's Day and according to the magazine in which I found it (March issue of Fresh magazine) it is rich in nutrients, folic acid, vitamin c and fibre.

For the Pancakes

• 450g peeled potatoes diced
• 60g plain flour
• 200ml milk

For the Filling

• 225g diced back bacon
• 85g unsalted butter
• 450g Kale or other greens finely shredded

Put the potatoes and flour in a food processor or blender with enough milk to make a batter. Let it rest while preparing the filling.

Dry-fry the bacon, add a third of the butter. Add the kale or veg and a few tablespoons of water. Boil vigorously for five minutes and then drain. Heat the rest of the butter in a frying pan and use about a quarter of the batter mixture to make a slim pancake. Cook until golden brown on the bottom. Top with a quarter of the filling fold over and serve. Should make 4 pancakes.

My only question is - should the potatoes be boiled first?