Arts Life
Food
LOTS Of Latkes
A new anthology of Jewish recipes features dishes from around the world.
dine in every Wednesday with
the New York Times. "Dining In"
is the weekly section that accom-
panies the paper every
Wednesday morning, which contains
restaurant reviews, food trends and
recipes. So, I was pleasantly surprised
one week to read about the recently
published New York Times Jewish
Cookbook (St. Martin's Press, $35).
This comprehensive cookbook (614
pages to be exact and more than 825
recipes) is edited by Linda Amster, a
manager of news research at the New
York Times. In the preface, Amster
writes about the food of her youth —
chicken soup, pot roast, stuffed cab-
I
bage and sponge cake. She also men-
tions the unexpected rewards — dis-
covering dishes from the Middle East
she never encountered before and per-
haps finding the first Chanukah latke
recipe made with lentils centuries
before the potato was introduced in
Europe.
Mimi Sheraton, a food expert and
former food critic for the New York
Times, wrote the introduction. She
becomes philosophical when asking
the question, "What is Jewish food?"
According to Sheraton, "The Jewish
kitchen developed naturally over cen-
turies, as home cooks migrated with
their native dishes, fiised them with
l
die Aq ork TAtites
EWI S H
COOK B
A
,
A
MSTER
strange local products and food cus-
toms and with recipes of their new
Jewish neighbors from other coun-
tries." She goes on to note the one
constant — kosher laws or kashrut.
Sheraton expounds on the blending of
cultures and religion over the centuries
with the traditional defining dishes
and the infusion of contemporary
Jewish cuisine. The preface and the
introduction are as delectable as the
recipes.
Since it's Chanukah, here are some
interesting latke dishes featured in The
New York Times Jewish Cookbook.
—Carla Schwartz, local columnist
41%;MM
$
AMI.S,,Mkg
>,
nft:3",q,tt
4 07 EL
‘A.
1
CURRIED SWEET-POTATO
LATKES
Adapted from the New Prospect
Cafe, Brooklyn, in Jewish Cooking in
America.
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon- cayenne pepper or
to taste
2 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon cumin
Salt to taste
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 large eggs, beaten
1/2 cup milk, approximately
peanut oil for frying
1. Grate the sweet potatoes coarse-
ly. In a separate bowl mix the flour,
sugar, brown sugar, baking powder,
cayenne pepper, curry powder,
cumin, salt and pepper.
2. Add the eggs and just
enough milk to dry ingredi-
ents to make a stiff batter.
Add the potatoes and mix.
The batter should be moist
but not runny; if too stiff, add
more milk.
3. Heat 1/4 inch of peanut
oil in saute pan until it is
barely smoking. Drop in the batter
by tablespoons and flatten. Cook sev-
eral minutes on each side until gold-
en. Drain on paper towels and serve.
Yield: 16 (3-inch) pancakes
Joan Nathan
ALAYNE ZATULKOV'S GIANT
VEGETABLE LATKE
1 pound Idaho potatoes, scrubbed
but unpeeled and shredded
1/2 pound carrots, scraped and
shredded
1 cup shredded onion
3/4 cup finely shredded celery root
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled,
cored and coarsely shredded
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup finely minced parsley
1/4 cup flour
1 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt and freshly ground pepper to
taste
1/2 cup cooking oil
1. Combine shredded potatoes,
carrot, onion, celery root and apple
in a bowl. Stir in eggs, parsley, flour
and thyme. Season with salt and pep-
per.
2. Heat half the oil until very hot
in a heavy 10-inch skillet. Spread
vegetable mixture into the skillet in
an even layer, covering the entire sur-
face
3. Fry vegetable mixture undis-
turbed until edges begin to show
color, 5-8 minutes. If it sticks to the
pan, gently release it with a thin spat-
ula.
4. When underside is golden, slide
the pancake into a large plate. Invert
another plate over it and flip it over.
Add remaining oil to the skillet and
when it is hot, slide the pancake back
into the skillet to brown the other
side. Fry until crisp.
NOTE: This pancake can be
served with 12 ounces fresh mush-
rooms, sliced and sauteed, spooned
on top.
Yield: 8 Servings
APPLE LATKES
Adapted from Ada Shoshan, in The
Jewish Holiday Kitchen.
2 eggs, well beaten
1 1/2 cups orange juice,•yogurt or
milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Dash of salt
1/4 cup sugar if using juice, 1/2
cup if using yogurt or milk
3 medium-size apples peeled, cored
and grated
Vegetable oil for frying -
1. Mix eggs with orange juice,
yogurt or milk in a bowl.
2. In a separate bowl combine
flour, baking powder, salt and sugar.
Add dry ingredients to the egg mix-
ture along with grated apples. Heat a
thin layer of oil in a skillet. Allowing
1 large tablespoon of batter per latke,
or pancake, drop batter into the hot
oil. Cook about 2 minutes on each
side or until slightly golden. Drain
on paper towels, sprinkle with con-
fectioners' sugar and serve.
Yield: About 36 Latkes
— Joan Nathan
— Florence Fabricant
j.N
12/12
2003
99