A couple of weeks ago, I was “challenged” by the team at Yarden Wines to make latkes that could be paired with some of their fantastic wines. If you’re not yet familiar with Yarden Wines, it encompasses Golan Heights Winery and Galil Mountain Winery, located in the Golan Heights and Galilee regions of Israel. Keep an eye out for more posts about wines from Israel.
What are latkes? According to Chabad.org Latke is Yiddish for “pancake.” On Chanukah, it is traditional to serve potato latkes fried in oil to celebrate the Chanukah miracle.
While I’ve made latkes once many years ago, I’m certainly no pro at making them so I turned to Pinterest for a good recipe and easy directions. The recipe I selected is by Sue from The View from Great Island (great blog by the way and amazing photography). Sue’s recipe, HOW TO MAKE PERFECT LATKES, was so easy to follow and featured lots of photos to help me along the way.
The results, if I may say so myself, were some of the best latkes I’ve ever eaten. Crunchy, crisp on the outside, moist and tender on the inside.
Here’s a link to the recipe and below are modifications I made:
- Used two large Russet potatoes
- Added a pinch of nutmeg
- Used a ¼ cup scoop to measure out the latke ‘batter’ for each portion in my cast iron pan. I like the latkes a bit bigger and a little rounder in the middle to ensure a moist inside.
- Replace the more typical chives with green onion.
- Skipped the apple sauce since I’m not a fan and served the latkes with sour cream.
- Grated the potatoes and onion by hand on a box grater. While more work, I actually like doing that step by hand.
- Gave the lakes a nice sprinkling of salt after frying when I placed them on the paper towel.
I paired the latkes with the 2019 Gilgal Chardonnay by Yarden Wines and it was terrific match. This wine retails for around $15 a bottle and a great addition to your collection.
Don’t hesitate to try this latkes recipe, it’s super great and it’ll wow your friends and family.
Happy cooking,
Veronique
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