Latkes

Growing up in a 1950s household, we abided by the traditions of the time.  That meant that, even though my mother worked outside the home, she was still the one who did the meal preparation.  I recall that the only thing my father could "cook" was something he called "German Potato Pancakes."  And maybe he prepared them a couple of times; memory fails me here.  I do remember that I liked the idea that he could actually cook something.

It wasn't until I was married and raising a family that I learned about latkes.  There were a lot of children's books in our house, especially holiday ones.  Latkes and Applesauce was shelved alongside our Christmas books.  And as our children grew, we tried to expose them to many cultural traditions.  So on the first day of Hanukkah, we ate latkes and applesauce.  (Probably with a side of kielbasa.)

Although I haven't done it in years, I decided tonight to make latkes.  Katrina is home for the holidays, so I feel compelled to cook a meal or two.  I've got some potatoes and onions, an egg, and a bottle of olive oil.  Good to go.

I forgot how not easy it is to cook a simple recipe.  First thing I learned:  it is very important to get as much liquid out of the mixture as one can before one attempts to fry the latkes.  Secondly, it is very, very hard to do that.  Needless to say, I did not do well on this part of the recipe.

I also learned (too late) that the temperature of the oil in the pan is more important than one would think.  I did not get the pan hot enough, and consequently, my latkes wanted to fall apart more than they wanted to cohere into perfect spheres of potato goodness.

Nonetheless, I persevered.  But the worst thing is that I didn't have any applesauce.  Or enough apples in the house to make my own.  (Thank goodness.)  Instead, I made asparagus soup.  I have no idea what asparagus soup has to do with Hanukkah, but it seemed like a good companion dish to me.

So Katrina and I "celebrated" Hanukkah with ill-formed latkes and delicious asparagus soup.  It all tasted pretty darn good.  So good that I fell in love with it, and there are no leftover latkes for tomorrow.