Celebrating Hanukkah for the First Time with Food
By Erica Hoffman
Last year I celebrated Christmas for the first time. My boyfriend’s family invited me to the main event, Christmas morning. I have to say that it was exactly like what I’ve seen on TV. An idyllic decorated tree with presents perfectly piled underneath, stockings (even one with my name on it), an abundance of cookies, and a lot of laughing smiling and present opening. I felt like I was in a movie. I wondered how I could make Hanukkah something special that my boyfriend could really get into and excited about.
This year, in addition to marking my second Christmas, my boyfriend will celebrate his first Hanukkah, join a handful of my family members as we exchange presents, have dreidel spin-offs, light the menorah, and make latkes.
So, how do you get an Irish, Christmas celebrating guy to embrace all things Hanukkah? One word: potatoes.
Even though my Christmas lovin’ guy and I haven’t ever truly celebrated the holiday together, I have made him latkes in the past. However, if anyone reading this has ever made latkes, you know it’s a long and tiring process. The most tedious part is peeling and grating the potatoes. Being the youngest, this usually ends up being my job, leaving me sitting next to what always seems to be an oversized army sack of potatoes, peeling away.
But it doesn’t stop there. Once you’ve peeled the almost comical amount of potatoes, you then have to grate them. And don’t even think about using an electric food processor, the texture is never right, and we can always tell the difference.
The first time I made them for him, he ate at least 10. He loved them so much he vowed to be the resident peeler and grater from that day forward. That’s the Hanukkah present that keeps on giving!
Latkes are one of the most iconic Hanukkah foods, and for a good reason, two words: Fried Potatoes.
And here’s a life hack that took my family almost 60 years to figure out: to avoid your house (hair, clothes, pets) smelling like a snack after a long night of latke making, make them outside!
When we first attempted this, they said it couldn’t be done. They said it wasn’t possible, but with our electric griddles ready and our extension cords in hand, we prevailed! Cooking them in a well-ventilated atmosphere was a game-changer, and we’ll never go back to cooking them inside. It was one of those lightbulb moments that, in retrospect, shouldn’t have taken so long to figure out.
Here is my Latke recipe. I invite you to try them!
- 1 lb. scrubbed and cut lengthwise into quarters
- 1 large onion (8 ounces), peeled and cut into quarters
- 2 large eggs
- ½ cup all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt (or 1 teaspoon fine sea salt), plus more for sprinkling
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- Safflower or other oil, for frying
PREPARATION
Using a hand grater, grate the potatoes and onion. Transfer the mixture to a clean dish towel and squeeze and wring out as much of the liquid as possible.
Working quickly, transfer the mixture to a large bowl. Add the eggs, flour, salt, baking powder, pepper, and mix until the flour is absorbed.
In a medium heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat, pour in about 1/4 inch of the oil. Once the oil is hot (a drop of batter placed in the pan should sizzle), use a heaping tablespoon to drop the batter into the hot pan, cooking in batches. Use a spatula to flatten and shape the drops into discs. When the edges of the latkes are brown and crispy, about 5 minutes, flip. Cook until the second side is deeply browned, about another 5 minutes. Transfer the latkes to a paper towel-lined plate to drain and sprinkle with salt while still warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.
Erica Hoffman was born in Atlantic City and is proud to be writing for Shore Local. She lives in South Jersey and enjoys finding and sharing the lighter side of life.
