Can You Serve Latkes With Prosciutto for Hanukkah?
There were 14 Levines at our pre-Hanukkah party. My family likes to talk (a lot), so I'm sure the din could be heard up and down West End Avenue. As I wrote yesterday, I couldn't find a brisket for us to cook, so I came up with an alternate revisionist Hanukkah menu.
I decided to to utilize latkes three ways:
1. Traditional, using the tried-and-true (and terrific) Lydie Marshall recipe from her fabulous book, A Passion for Potatoes.
2. Latkes with Smoked Salmon, Creme Fraiche, and Chives. I basically stole this concept from Wolfgang Puck. Puck topped them with caviar, but I decided that was gilding the lily.
3. Latkes with brisket, horseradish sauce, and chopped chive. I bought a pound and a half of brisket at the take-out counter at Fairway along with a bottle of Bookbinder's horseradish sauce. This isn't an original combination, but it sure is tasty when it's topping a potato latke.
4. For dessert my wife made her favorite lemon cake recipe from the Silver Palate.
It was a huge hit. Everyone loved it except one of my brothers, who felt we were messing with tradition a little too much with these newfangled latkes. Next year I might go totally radical and serve latkes topped by prosciutto and mascarpone cheese. I just don't don't know if I'll get the rabbinical easement necessary to pull this dish off in guilt-free fashion.
Add a comment:
Previewing your comment:
HTML Hints
Some HTML is OK: <a href="URL">link</a>, <strong>strong</strong>, <em>em</em>
Comment Guidelines
Post whatever you want, just keep it seriously about eats, seriously. We reserve the right to delete off-topic or inflammatory comments. Learn more at our Comment Policy page.
If you see something not so nice, please, report an inappropriate comment.
12 Comments:
I am drooling over the very concept.
Than I posted about it. Please see http://www.annienewman.typepad.com/anniesnyeats/2007/11/kosher-oy-vay.html
annien at 4:45PM on 11/25/07
Next year I might go totally radical and serve latkes topped by prosciutto and mascarpone cheese. I just don't don't know if I'll get the rabbinical easement necessary to pull this dish off in guilt-free fashion.
You can get closer if you use beef speck instead of prosciutto. There's a similar combination of ingredients in grostl.
If I remember Puck's recipe right (it's not linking at the moment) he used large egg salmon caviar. Trust me, it is not gilding the lily. It is merely paradisical.
Karen Resta at 5:13PM on 11/25/07
I love love love latkes. What is there not to like? Some people are very attached to traditional foods served traditionally (humming Fiddler on the Roof show tunes). I tend to also come across this when I am toying with italian recipes. There is always someone (blogger, cookbook author, foodtv star, food stylist) who messes with the tried and true.
How about this Ed.
Turkey prosciutto http://www.mealmaster.com/recipes/r650.htm
Beef prosciutto http://www.emerils.com/recipes/by_name/beef_prosciutto_(dry_cured).html
Lamb http://salumicuredmeats.com/products/lambproc.htm
If you want to keep Kosher it can be done.
JerzeeTomato at 5:19PM on 11/25/07
an ex Nyer... latkes are a complete fav. The lemon cake is to die for
thanx
horsewoman
horsewoman at 8:51PM on 11/25/07
I love latkes, but rarely make them. Last year I decided to go nuts and I hosted a holiday party that my (mostly non-Jewish) friends dubbed "Latkepalooza." I made three different types: regular (white) potato ones, sweet potato ones, and mediterranean chickpea latkes that have a garbanzo bean base and also include rosemary, cumin and olive oil--and then drizzled with pomegranate molasses. Needless to say, it was a lot of work and a HUGE success. And of course, friends are already asking when I'm having this year's event and if I'll try new versions...
Curlz at 10:16PM on 11/25/07
Mmmm. Horseradish sauce. Sounds fantastic! I was thinking I might make sweet potato and parsnip latkes for a change this year. Thanks, Ed!
hereandthe at 10:24AM on 11/26/07
No prosciutto latkes for me.. To me that is akin to serving a pork roast on Hannukah, which my stepmother did one year..I try to honor the holidays by curbing my pork consumption.
izzy's mama at 12:20PM on 11/26/07
My favorite way to make alt latkes is to add the spices from one of Madhur Jaffrey's potato recipes (from Spice Kitchen) to the mixture.
Though if my mother says one more time "they're very good but you can't call them latkes," there may be matricide.
floretbroc at 1:14PM on 11/26/07
Well, I've seen lobster at Bar Mitzvahs before...
Wide Lawns at 4:01PM on 11/26/07
Wait a minute - I'm no Jew, though I grew up with plenty of them (it's what happens when you live in NY), but isn't meat + cheese a big no-no?
looloopoopie at 4:46PM on 11/26/07
Prosciutto!? Oy!
SavtaShayna at 5:21PM on 11/26/07
We try and mix it up by adding a non-traditional latke recipe to our big family Hanukah party. My favorite is a three color latke done with zucchini, sweet potatoes and yukon golds...looks great...excellent fry-ability that produces a nicely varied texture. I have served them as a 'latke sandwich' with lox and dab of sour cream mixed with fresh dill.
Chappy Chanukah to all!
Scottzel at 8:22AM on 11/30/07