The Perfect Latke

I was looking for an easy breakfast to make en masse and then reheat throughout the week.  I found a simple recipe that ended up being surprisingly good.  Or perhaps not so surprisingly, because when has smittenkitchen steered anyone wrong?

Potatoes are really easy to shred.  I say that because I bought a molcajete in Mexico and for the past week I've been grinding away, turning dry beans and rice into powder, trying to season it.  Beans are not easy to powder.  Potatoes, on the other hand, are really easy to shred. 

After the shredding, they need to be wrapped in a paper towel and squeezed dry.

Dough photos are never pretty.  This is the best I can do - the mixture pre-egg, pre-potato/onion.  The shiny glint of freshly ground sea salt and the smattering of ground pepper.

Mix it, scoop it, fry it, flip it.  These were just so...easy.  Maybe it was the cast iron, keeping the pan temperature even.  Maybe it's just that this is a fool-proof recipe.  Who knows.

After an easy round (confidence boost) I even felt comfortable making five at once!

And they just crisped up so well!  I haven't tried another latke recipe, but I don't think I need to look any further.

Regarding the reheating:  obviously they're best on the day they're made.  But the reheating wasn't so bad either.  Deb says you can re-crisp them in a 400 degree oven.

Potato Latke (as seen on smittenkitchen)

Makes roughly 12 to 14 latkes

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs potatoes
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 c flour
• 2 eggs
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
•  Oil (I used bacon grease, but it's not kosher)

Instructions:
1.  Shred the potatoes (they are easy to shred by hand, food processors also work).  Wrap the potato in a paper towel and squeeze the moisture out. 
2.  Mix the flour, eggs, salt and pepper together.  Add the potato and onion to the mixture, stirring until well-coated.
3.  Heat oil over med-high heat.  When hot, drop roughly a third of a cup of the potato mixture into the pan and flatten with a spatula.  Fry until golden (1 to 2 minutes) then flip (letting cook 1 more minute).
4.  Repeat until potato mixture is gone, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.   

These latkes are great - but they need a little something extra.  Some salsa or hot sauce is perfect.  That's just my preference though, and I really enjoy spicy foods.  Speaking of spicy foods, I forgot to post a photo last week.  We spent a week in Mexico, enjoying temps in the upper 80s and sun every day, and we returned to a frozen over lake and single digit temps.  Yeah.