I just endured my first vegetarian Passover, and was hard-pressed to find delicious foods that satisfied the Passover requirements. Although they are usually reserved for Hanukah, potato pancakes are scrumptious and unleavened. They made for a satisfying and indulgent Passover dinner.
Are they the healthiest dinner you ever cooked? No. But they're oddly decadent and too delicious to dismiss.
We're purists in our house, so we serve them with applesauce and sour cream, but you could also serve them with smoked salmon, caviar - well, the sky's the limit, really.
This recipe supposedly serves 4, but honestly, they're so good that just two of us finished off the whole batch.
3 eggs 4 medium sized potatoes 1 onion 1 tsp salt 1/4 tsp pepper 1/8 freshly-grated nutmeg 3 tbsp matzo meal cooking oil for frying applesauce (optional) sour cream (optional)
Peel and grate the potatoes. I usually do this by hand and use my largest-hole cheese grater to get crunchy, stringy pancakes. Place the peeled potatoes in cold water, let soak for a minute, then strain them. Squeeze them gently to get as much moisture out of them as possible.
Grate the onion and place it in with the potatoes. Add the eggs, salt, pepper, nutmeg, and matzo meal. Stir it all together and place the bowl into the fridge to refrigerate for a half hour.
Put a skillet on the stove top, fill it with about an inch and a half of oil and put it on medium heat. Place the potato mixture in the oil one at a time. The mixture will go to the bottom to fry. Push it down a bit so that it sreads out into the shape of a pancake. Let it hang out there for a couple of minutes, them scrape it from the bottom and gently turn it over. Give it another couple of minutes or until the pancake is golden brown.
When the pancakes are done, put them on a tray lined with paper towels. Sprinkle a little salt on them.
Serve them with sour cream and applesauce.