I needed to make something to augment our dinner options. I needed to be relatively quick and easy and involve vegetables. It also needed to be something that we had all the ingredients on hand for already. Bonus points if it called for something we'd been having trouble using up. After a few minutes flipping through the vegetarian cookbook it was between latkes and tamale pie. Latkes won out because they were a little simpler and let us use up some carrots and potatoes that'd been hanging around. We also figured there was a good chance the Kidlet would like them. This, sadly, turned out to be wrong, but we tried!

These latkes are a little more involved than my usual approach of stirring eggs into grated potatoes, but they did turn out pretty nice. I'm not sure I'd always bother going to the extra effort, but it's nice to know a few tricks for making really good latkes. TF certainly enjoyed them!

Latkes

Slightly adapted from The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook by America's Test Kitchen

Ingredients

• 400g potatoes, grated (preferably russet or some other floury variety)
• 1 large carrot, grated
• 1 onion, grated (or chopped fine)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. pepper
• 2 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. minced fresh parsley
• oil, for frying

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, carrot, onion, and salt and mix well.
2. Wrap half the potato mixture in a tea towel and wring out as much water as possible, reserving liquid. Repeat with second half of potato mixture. Set liquid aside for 5-10 minutes to let starch settle out.
3. Microwave potato for 1-2 minutes in 30 second intervals. It should be warmed through but not hot. Spread out onto a baking sheet and set aside to cool.
4. Once the potato liquid has separated, carefully pour off the water from the starch.
5. Add eggs to starch, beating and mixing well.
6. Return potato mixture to bowl and pour starch-egg mixture over.
7. Add parsley and pepper and mix well.
8. Pour oil to a depth of 3-4 mm and heat over medium to medium-high heat.
9. Scoop generous 1/4 c. portions of latke mixture into the hot oil and flatten with a spatula to form pancakes.
10. Cook until underside is golden-brown, flip, and continue cooking until second side is done.
11. Repeat until latke mixture is used up.
12. Serve with sour cream and/or applesauce.