Latkes (finally)

Tuesday December 11

We didn't get around to having latkes until the last night of Chanukah, when Julie came over to celebrate with us. She brought a bottle of White Knight Viognier, very smoky and interesting, which we drank around the kitchen peninsula while Holt fried the latkes.

He made them according to the classic Claudia Roden recipe, as we've done before, but once again, those damn Wisconsin russet potatoes we bought at IGA were undependable. This time they gave up so much water that even after pressing them in the ricer, Holt had to hand-squeeze the patties dry again before frying them. Thanks to his care, and to the goose schmaltz they so unauthentically fried in, they came out crisp and brown outside, tender inside. We topped them with the usual drained yogurt, but also with black caviar (okay, lumpfish) as a special touch.

The second course was, believe it or not, a salad from the garden: the tiny mesclun lettuces and arugula are still hanging on despite a couple of frosty nights, and they REALLY enjoyed today, which was about 60 degrees. Barbara picked the leaves and put them under water just before dinner. Then she went through her collection of bag-ripened garden tomatoes, diced up the best parts of a couple of good ones, and doused them (plus some non-home-grown diced zucchini and red onions) with some of her own basil oil. Once the latka course was done, she spun-dried the lettuce, tossed it with the marinated vegetables, and dosed the salad with a bit of balsamic vinegar. So hey, even if the latkes didn't fry in oil, at least the salad had olive oil in it. Though I doubt the Maccabees flavored theirs with basil.

Dessert was chocolate Chanukah gelt (of course) and some lovely lemon biscotti brought by Julie, accompanied by wine and/or port. So a very happy Chanukah was had by all.