Pork, Apples, and Potato Pancakes

I grew up in an interesting household…at least when it came to religion. My mom is Christian and my dad is Jewish. My parent’s philosophy while we were young was to expose us to each religion…then we would make an informed decision for ourselves on which was right for us. Unfortunately, they were expecting us to think way beyond our maturity level.

This is what I remember about going to church and Sunday school: not bad…only an hour long and I know a couple of people from school. I can deal with that.

This is what I remember about going to Temple: not bad…pretty sure it’s longer than an hour..but at least I know a couple of people from school. I can deal with that.

Until Hebrew school started. I wish, looking back, that I would have taken advantage of the classes at my disposal and had actually studied. At the time, I was a preoccupied middle school student too busy thinking about boys and playing Doom 2 on the computer. But I do have another fond memory…the food. The tasty challah bread, beef brisket, applesauce, and of course, my favorite: latkes.

In honor of the start of Hanukkah, I decided to make some homemade latkes. I found a relatively simple, classic recipe in this month’s Cooking Light. Here is the recipe:

Classic Potato Latkes

• 3 1/2 cups peeled, shredded baking potatoes
• 1 1/4 cups grated onion
• 6 tbsp. all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce with a dash of cinnamon

Lucky me, we received a food processor as a wedding gift! Shredding these potatoes was easy peasy!

The recipe calls for the onion to be “grated.” I went ahead and decided that grated and shredded were the same thing so I also used the food processor on the onion. I’m not too sure if they were the right consistency or not…they got a bit mushy and watery but that might be inevitable with onions.

Since the onion and potatoes are so watery, the next step was to place them both into a colander and let it drain for about 30 minutes.

While the potato/onion mixture was draining…I started on the entree. I made Baked Pork Chops with Apples*.

*(I realize pork is not kosher…(I am clearly not kosher..or Jewish) so I don’t mean to offend anyone who is. I simply like the idea of pork chops because they go well with apples and applesauce which will be served with the latkes.)

I started by cutting up 3 apples. I used pink lady apples but I’m sure you can use any type you like. Then, I mixed together some brown sugar and cinnamon.

The recipe also calls for 4 tsp. of butter, melted. I used Smart Balance and it still turned out pretty tasty!  Next, I spread the apples onto a greased cookie sheet and dumped the sugar and cinnamon mixture onto them. I also spread the melted butter onto the apples.

Finally, I laid the pork chops onto the apples and covered them with foil. I baked the chops for about an hour in a 350 degree oven.

Back to the latkes! The next step was to add flour, the egg, thyme, salt, and pepper to the potato/onion mixture. I attempted to mix it with a spoon at first…but figured what better way to mix then with my hands!

I was finally ready to fry these babies up! I warmed some of the olive oil mentioned in the recipe contents and used a 1/4 cup measuring cup to scoop out each latke.

Once the latkes were browned on both sides, I took them off the pan and placed them on a baking sheet lined with paper towels to soak up some oil.

Finally, the pork chops were done! I pilled a couple chops onto a plate along with some cooked apples, a couple latkes, and some applesauce with cinnamon. This was a delicious dinner! I especially liked the pork chops (probably because they were covered in sugar, butter, and apples). They were great! I would highly recommend both recipes!

Hope everyone has a very happy Hanukkah!