I have some sad news. This will be the first year since its inception in 2001 that I will not be hosting our annual Christmukkah party, renowned for the extremely boozelicious egg nog and the scrumptious potato latkes. That baby I alluded to in my last post (4 1/2 months ago!) has arrived and is keeping me too busy to make 100 latkes and several gallons of egg nog, much less post regularly on this blog. It's all I can do to keep up with posting photos on our baby blog, and I regularly get crabby emails from my mother-in-law that I have been slacking in that department as well!
So my holiday gift to you this year is, instead of a party I am passing on my well-honed recipe for the famous latkes. They weren't always this good mind you. I have made many a latke that was burned on the edges, soggy, or fell apart the instant you tried to pick it up. But after literally years of trial and error, last year I found the holy grail. The recipe for latkes that are flavorful, pretty, crispy on the outside, steamy and soft on the inside, hold together well in the pan and can be frozen and reheated and not fall apart and still STAY CRISPY!!
The freezing and reheating part is essential for me. The first year I made latkes for our party, I just mixed up all the batter ahead of time and thought I would just fry them up as the party began. Well, that was completely unrealistic. It takes a surprisingly long time to brown a latke properly, and even with all 4 burners going on the stove, I could only cook about 12-14 latkes at a time. I spent almost the whole party in the kitchen, distractedly mumbling conversation with the guests who meandered in and out trying gamely to help. The next year, the mother of one of my piano students told me she always made hers ahead of time for her Hanukkah party, placing the fried latkes on a baking sheet on the porch to freeze and then tossing them into ziplocs in the freezer until party day. GENIUS! But it still took me a while to refine the recipe until I was perfectly happy with it. And here, I now bestow on you, the final version, a miracle of potatoes and oil:
Robin's Perfect Potato Latkes
Ingredients:
2 lbs russet potatoes - this is the starchiest variety of potato.
1/2 cup grated onion
4 scallions, finely chopped
2 large eggs,
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 cup flour
plenty of pure olive oil (not extra virgin) or peanut oil (I like to do half and half)
Instructions:
Grate
potatoes by hand, (do not use cuisinart, the shreds will be too big and will take forever to cook through). As you go, empty gratings
into a large bowl of cold water. This keeps the potato shreds from
discoloring.
Drain potato gratings, reserving white sludgey stuff that remains in the bottom of the bowl (important trick). This is potato starch and it will help your latkes hold together.
Spin the gratings in a salad spinner until most of the excess liquid is removed. Mix with the grated onion and wrap a the mixture in an absorbent dish towel about a cup at a time and squeeze to remove any more excess moisture.
Combine the eggs, scallions and salt in a bowl. Beat lightly, then pour mixture into the reserved potato starch and stir until blended. Add to potato-onion-scallion mixture and mix well, sprinkling in the 1/4 cup flour a bit at a time.
Put a large, heavy bottomed non-stick or cast iron skillet over high heat. Add oil until it is about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. When the oil seems hot, test by dropping a smidgen of latke mixture into the pan and see if it sizzles.
If it does, spoon 2 tablespoons-worth of latke mixture into the skillet. Flatten with a fork until the latke is about 3 inches across. Repeat until there are 4 latkes in the pan. Do not be tempted to put too many latkes in the pan or they will reduce the temperature of the oil and take forever to cook. (Alternately, you can do one tablespoon's worth per latke if you want little cocktail party-sized latkes - these will be about 2 inches in diameter when flattened and you can cook 5 in a large frying pan.) Reduce heat to medium high and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with paper towels.
If you are making them to serve immediately, keep the baking sheet in a warm oven so the latkes stay hot. If you are making them for later, put the baking sheet in the freezer (or outside if it's cold enough and you're not worried about animals stealing your latkes!) and when all the latkes are frozen, transfer them to a ziploc and keep in the freezer until ready to serve. Reheat in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes or until sizzling.
Makes about 25 latkes, or 40 cocktail-sized latkes. Serve warm, with applesauce or sour cream. (I like to top mine with sour cream and caviar!)
But every once in a while I get a bee in my bonnet to make some real food from scratch. I discovered a great blueberry pie recipe last summer that I promised I would blog about, and I have been dying to make now that it's blueberry season again. My mom coming to visit us for the 4th of July was the perfect excuse. Normally I would mean that in the sense of, a perfect excuse to bake something special for a guest visiting, or to top off a holiday menu. In this case, however, I mean that it was a perfect excuse for me to sit in the kitchen with my extremely swollen feet up on a chair, reading the recipe out loud while my mom followed instructions and basically baked the pie by herself. I actually think it tastes even better this way, so if there is a good baker who loves you, try sitting with your feet up and having them prepare it for you. If you're not that lucky, then just know that those you serve it to will be having a heavenly experience. And it doesn't taste too bad to the pastry chef either!
There are many reasons why this pie is the greatest blueberry pie you will ever taste. First of all, there is excellent pie crust a la Rose Levy Berenbaum, which is savory, flaky and perfectly rich. Then, there is the layer of cream cheese filling under the fruit - it's like a smidge of cheesecake tucked in your blueberry pie. This genius idea comes from Helen Getz, the grandmother of my favorite prissy food writer, Amanda Hesser. And most of all, there is Helen's fantastic half-cooked filling, which mixes a deeply sweet and juicy syrup of cooked blueberries with a pint of fresh, uncooked blueberries to create an intensely blueberry flavored jelly topping packed with plump berries that burst between your teeth.
A word to the wise - you may think of this pie as a nice thing to serve for dessert. Which it is. But I can attest that it also makes a great breakfast. And dinner. Oh, and lunch too...
Greatest Blueberry Pie You Will Ever Taste
Adapted from Rose Levy Berenbaum and Amanda Hesser's grandma, Helen Getz
Ingredients:
For the crust
1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
3 oz chilled cream cheese, cut into quarters
8 Tablespoons (1 stick) frozen, unsalted butter cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 Tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
For cream cheese filling
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
For blueberry filling:
3/4 cup sugar,
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
a pinch of salt
1/4 c water
4 cups (2 pints) fresh blueberries
1 Tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 Tablespoon butter
Instructions:
In a food processor, combine flour, sea salt and baking powder. Process to combine. Add the 3 ounces of cream cheese, cut into quarters and process until coarse. Add the frozen butter cubes and process until butter is peanut size. Add the cream and vinegar and pulse until butter is the size of small peas.
Transfer mixture to a bowl and mix swiftly with a fork until dough holds together, about 5 minutes. Roll into a ball and press the ball into a smooth, flat disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 45 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 450F. Roll out the dough between 2 pieces of lightly floured parchment paper to a circle about 1/8 inch thick. Line a 9-inch pie plate with the dough. Trim the edges, leaving about 1/2-inch overhang. Fold under this overhang and crimp the edges. Prick the base of the dough with a fork. Line the pie dough with foil and pour in pie weights. (You can also use dried beans or loose change.) Bake for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350F and bake for 10 minutes more. Remove the foil and pie weights and bake another 5 minutes to dry the surface. Let cool completely before filling.
Prepare the cream cheese filling: With a hand mixer or whisk, blend the cream cheese, sugar, vanilla and heavy cream until light and smooth.
Prepare the blueberry filling: Put the sugar, cornstarch and salt in a medium pan. Add the water and 2 cups (1 pint) of the blueberries. Cook over medium heat, stirring often. This is the most exciting part of the recipe to watch. The liquid will turn lavender, then magenta, and then it will seize up and thicken, and after a minute or two, turn to a deep translucent blackish purple. Take it off the heat and stir in the lemon juice and butter. Pour in the remaining blueberries and stir until coated.
Assemble the pie: Spread the cream cheese mixture over the bottom of the cooled pie dough. Drop the blueberry mixture over the cream cheese in large spoonfuls, then gently spread them around, trying not to mush the cream cheese layer. There should be two distinct layers. Chill in the refrigerator for half an hour to set. Let it come to room temperature before serving.
Serves 8
He's not the only one who's been making some changes. I have been tinkering over the past year with the recipe and I think I have finally found the perfect version. The first modification I made was keeping some of the squash in chunks instead of pureeing it all in with the cheese sauce. I liked the orangeness and richness that the pureed squash lent to the cheese sauce, but I missed the contrast of sweet and salty that you get from carmelized chunks of squash, which was lost in the blended texture. So I settled on a version with half the squash pureed and half roasted in chunks.
Also I experimented with reducing the amount of butter and in the end, I chopped off an entire tablespoon. (OK not that impressive, but considering the original recipe I adapted it from had an entire stick of butter, I think getting it down to half that is pretty good.) Since I reduced the butter, I also had to adjust the amount of flour, milk, and broth in the sauce. But I chose not to reduce the cheese amount at all, because, cmon it's mac and CHEESE.
Over time I decided I liked a little more kick in the sauce so I increased the amount of cayenne by a 1/4 teaspoon.
The final change I made was to bake the casserole in the oven rather than crisping the top under the broiler. I kept on getting little burnt fringes when I did the broiler, and I find that the oven browning is more reliable plus it gives the noodles time to absorb more of the cheesy flavor. It takes a little longer but it's worth it in my opinion. If you roast the squash the day before it's still a pretty quick dish to make.
Ingredients:
1 butternut squash
1 pound elbow macaroni
4 Tablespoons butter
1/3 cup flour
1 1/2 cups milk
1 teaspoon dry mustard
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg plus more for sprinkling
heaping 1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1 pound sharp cheddar cheese, shredded (about 4 cups)
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock
1 slice of bread - OR - 1 cup panko crumbs
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Slice squash in half and discard seeds . Peel one of the squash halves and cut into 1-inch cubes. Spray the half and the chunks with cooking oil and sprinkle with a little nutmeg. Place the squash half, cut side down, on a baking sheet and scatter the squash chunks next to it in a single layer. Roast for 45 minutes until very tender.
While squash is cooking, make breadcrumbs by putting 1 slice of bread in the food processor and pulsing until it creates fine breadcrumbs. Set aside.
After removing squash from the oven, reduce the heat to 350.
When squash has cooled, set aside the chunks of squash. Peel skin off the squash half and discard. Puree squash half in food processor until it has a smooth consistency. Set aside.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Salt generously. Boil pasta to al dente - about 6 minutes. Drain pasta and set aside.
Melt 3 Tablespoons butter (set aside 1 Tablespoon) and slowly stir in the 1/3 cup of flour to form a paste.
Off heat, SLOWLY whisk in 1 1/2 cups of milk. Return to medium low heat until sauce fully blends and thickens.
Add pureed squash to the thickened sauce.
Add mustard, salt, nutmeg, and cayenne pepper. Stir in 3 1/2 cups of cheese (set aside 1/2 cup for the topping) and 1 cup of stock, alternating cheese and stock by cupfuls. Taste sauce, adjust seasonings if needed.
Combine pasta, squash chunks, and cheese sauce in a large casserole dish, toss to coat evenly.
Melt the remaining Tablespoon of butter and blend with remaining 1/2 cup of cheese and the breadcrumbs to form topping. Sprinkle mixture over the macaroni.
Place macaroni uncovered in a 350 degree oven until cheese sauce is bubbling and breadcrumb topping is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
Serves 8, leftovers freeze well if you're so inclined. Reheat frozen portions in a 350 oven for 20-30 minutes or just nuke it.
