5/13 Blog #7 You Can't Beet These Latkes

     This week's dish was beet and potato latkes served with a bright and refreshing preserved lemon yogurt dressing. Now, this isn't traditional Jewish fare. This is a modern take on a recipe Jews across the world have been making for thousands of years. Thus, this was far out of my comfort zone as far as Jewish food and flavors go. Also, I decided to experiment with plating for the first time this week, which was super fun. 

    I mean just look how fancy that looks. I was really looking forward to doing that swoosh with the sauce because that is what chefs do on tv. Besides just being photogenic, these latkes were also delicious. I used a food processor to grate the potatoes, onions, and beets. Using the beets did make my hands very red though. I then had to squeeze all of the moisture out of the ingredients and added rosemary, thyme, flour, salt, and pepper. 

    I then hand mixed everything in the bowl until it was all incorporated. Now, this is the scary part, I had to fill a pan with a quarter-inch of oil to fry these. I formed the mixture into patties and squeezed out any moisture I could then put them in the hot oil. After frying, I put the finished latkes on the baking pan lined with paper towels to drain. 

    After I was done making all of the latkes, I started on the dressing. Making this dressing took three stores, as the first place (Assi Market) didn't have the yogurt I needed or the preserved lemons, then Patel's Market didn't have the lemons but did have the yogurt. At this point, I had to go get dinner started, so my Bubbe then had to schlep over to World Market to get the preserved lemons. All of that work was well worth it though because this dressing had the perfect bright acidity this dish needed. I put the preserved lemons (lemons that have been sitting in sugar water for god knows how long), fresh lemon juice, turmeric, honey, a single jalapeno, and some water in the food processor and made a chunky mixture. I then added a lot of yogurt- somewhere around two cups but it was enough to make it delicious- and used the food processor to mix all of it together. 

    That night, my Bubbe was over for dinner, and the next day I had my other grandma try the latkes. They are both self-proclaimed latke masters of over 50 years, so I was nervous to see what the masters thought. Everyone was impressed and I think I will have to make these again come Hannukah time. To enter into the upper echelons of the Margolis-Ross joint family latke makers was a great honor though. Overall, this was a very enjoyable experience and this might be the dish I make the most often after this project is over.