Potato Pancakes with Awesome Sides!!!!

Happy Hanukkah!!  Whatever holiday you celebrate, there is not a single person who can say they don’t like latkes! I mean come on, a delicious potato pancake served with awesome sides. While making them for this recipe we probably ate 10 of them, but made sure we had enough left to photograph. I am eating one as I type this, cold…because they are awesome hot or cold.

These are some straight forward delish potato latkes with some very amazing garnishes…cinnamon/pear/apricot jam, ponzu sour cream, and some jalapeno bacon jam! Though the bacon jam isn’t kosher….it’s wonderful!

This recipe makes about a dozen! Maybe more but you will have a dozen after you eat the ones right out the pan.

Ingredients:

Potato Pancakes:
1 bottle vegetable oil
7 Russet potatoes
1 large shallot
2 eggs
¾ cup wheat flour
Kosher Salt

Jalapeno Bacon Jam:
1 pack bacon
4 jalapenos
½ cup brown sugar
½ lemon

Cinnamon Pear Jam:
4 small apricots
2 large bosc pears
½ cup sugar
½ lemon
1 teaspoon cinnamon

Ponzu Sour Cream:
½ cup sour cream
2 Tablespoons Ponzu
2 teaspoons Siracha

 

Start by making garnishes so that you have them ready.

Jalapeno Bacon Jam:

Remove seeds from jalapenos and chop. Dice bacon as well. In a large skillet on a medium high heat, render bacon and jalapeno stirring every few minutes. Cook for about 15 minutes or until browned a bit.

Place in a food processor and blend slightly. Add back into the pan. Lower heat until medium and add a ¼ cup of water, cook until water has evaporated. Add another ¼ cup of water, the sugar, and squeeze the half lemon. Stir, and let cook for about  6 minutes.

Remove from heat, and let sit.

Cinnamon Pear Jam:

Chop up apricots and pears and place in small sauce pan on medium high heat. Using a masher, mash up fruit until mostly liquid with small pieces. Bring fruit to a boil.

Once boiling, squeeze the lemon half, and stir in sugar. Let that come to a boil for 2 minutes, and then lower heat to a simmer.

Let simmer and cook down, stirring every few minutes, for about 25 minutes.

Set aside and let cool.

Ponzu Sour Cream:

This one is very simple… simply mix all the ingredients together!

Potato Pancakes:

To make the pancakes peel all of the potatoes. You are going to be preparing the potatoes into three different ways, so basically into thirds. Cube two of the potatoes, and place in a pot of salted water, and bring to a boil. Let boil for 15 minutes.

In a large bowl, grate the remainder of the potatoes, with the large side of a grater. Press with a paper towel to get rid of excess moisture.

Now, chop up the shallot, and take half of the grated potatoes and place into a food processor with the shallot and pulse. Place back into the large bowl with the grated potatoes.

Once the boiling potatoes are tender, drain and mash up. Place those into the large bowl with the rest of the potatoes.

Using a large spoon mix all the potato mix together, with a large pinch of salt, two eggs, and the wheat flour. Now your mix is ready.

In a large skillet on medium heat, heat up about a ¼ inch of oil. When the oil is ready, plop in a spoonful of potato mix and push down. Place about 3 pancakes in. Cook for about 7 minutes, flipping halfway through. Place on a paper towel to drain excess oil, and sprinkle with salt.

Voila! Now serve with garnishes and enjoy!