Potato Latkes

Recipe by Liz Neumark

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, chopped
4 russet potatoes, peeled and shredded by hand or food processor
3 tablespoons flour or potato starch
3 eggs
Salt and Pepper
Applesauce and/or sour cream, to top

Method:
1) Sauté the onion in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil till soft but not
browned. Set aside to cool.
2) Mix the grated potatoes, onions, flour and eggs together in a large
bowl and season with salt and pepper to taste. Then turn them into
a colander set over a large bowl. Drape a damp dishcloth over the
colander. When it seems that very little liquid is draining off the
potatoes, after about 15 minutes, carefully pour off the water leaving the
starch that has collected at the bottom of the bowl. Mix the starch back
into the potatoes — this will help hold the latkes together as they cook.
3) Place a large skillet over a medium heat and pour in equal amounts of
olive and canola oil to a depth of about 1 inch. The oil is hot enough
when a tiny bit of the latke mixture sizzles when you drop it in.
I make small latkes, 3-4 inches across, scooping up a large tablespoon
of batter into my palm and flattening it out before sliding it into the
pan. The edges of the latke are very ragged and make me think of
multi-clawed crabs! It takes only a few minutes for the latkes to brown.
Then I gently flip them. As they come out of the pan, I move them onto
a cookie sheet lined with paper towels. Sometimes I have to hide the
pan in the oven, safe from marauding snackers!