Best Latkes

I looked at a couple sad russet potatoes in my vegetable bin this morning that needed to be used asap. I immediately thought about these wonderful latkes my husband and I had in NYC a couple years ago. I’m pretty sure they were the first latkes I had ever had and they were incredible. We were in the SOHO area of NYC and someone recommended this Jewish diner to us for breakfast. It was called Russ and Daughters.

I love smoked salmon and bagels so I was excited. We ordered the latkes as kind of an afterthought. Oh my goodness I am so glad we ordered them. They were delicately crispy on the outside and creamy on the inside. You tasted potato but also sweet onion. Alongside the latkes was sour cream and applesauce. I wasn’t so sure about the applesauce but it worked. My favorite was the sour cream though.

I’ve made these latkes one of other time since our trip to NYC. I found a recipe for them by Food & Wine. This time I made a few changes to the recipe. One of the changes I made was to use ghee to fry the latkes in instead of oil. I thought the flavor the ghee added was better than oil. Ghee is butter but the milk solids, casein has been removed. I began cooking with ghee after my youngest son was born. He has a dairy intolerance so while breastfeeding, I couldn’t have dairy. I could have ghee though because it doesn’t have milk casein. I used ghee just like butter. It is great for sautéing vegetables, panfrying and cooking pancakes because it doesn’t burn like butter. It has a high smoke point.

I love making the latkes for breakfast and serving alongside sunny side up eggs and bacon, sausage or smoked salmon. You could also serve them as an appetizer and make them loaded latkes with cheese, sour cream and bacon on top. Yummy!

Best Latkes

Print Recipe

Serves: 4 to 6 Cooking Time: 5 to 6 minutes

Ingredients

1 1/2 to 2 pounds russet potatoes, peeled
1/2 small sweet onion
1 large egg
2 tablespoons matzo meal
1 1/2 tablespoons melted and cooled ghee
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon cracked black pepper
3/8 teaspoon baking powder
ghee, for frying
Sour cream and chives for serving

Instructions

Using a box grater with the large hole size, grate the potatoes and onion in a colander set over a large bowl, toss the potatoes with the onion and squeeze dry. Let the potatoes and onion drain for 2 to 3 minutes, then pour off the liquid in the bowl, leaving the starchy paste at the bottom. Add the potatoes and onion, along with the egg, matzo meal, ghee, salt, pepper and baking powder; mix well.

In a large nonstick skillet, heat a heaping tablespoon ghee over medium to medium-high heat. Once hot, spoon three 1/4-cup mounds of the latke batter into the skillet about 2 inches apart and flatten slightly with a spatula. Fry the latkes, turning once, until golden and crisp, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the latkes to paper towel lined plate to drain, then transfer to a platter. Repeat to make the remaining latkes, adding more ghee to the skillet as needed.

Serve immediately with sour cream and chopped chives.