Potato lakes, two ways

There are many ways to fry a potato. Seriously, just think about it for a while. French fries. Tater tots. Steak fries. Hash browns. Home fries.

That really wasn't as many as I thought. Hmm. Nevermind. Point retracted.

Here we made latkes using two different methods, neither one of which is the way you're supposed to do it: oven baking and deep-frying. So, I decided to make latkes for a church potluck, and the pan frying was taking longer than I expected. So, my brother who happened to be making hush puppies at that exact second in his deep fryer suggested we try a change of plan. In all honesty, I liked his better, but they were both great.


Potato Latkes, oven-fried and deep-fried

Ingredients

• 1 pound Yukon potatoes, washed and dried but not peeled
• 1 medium, sweet yellow onion
• 1 large egg, beaten
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 3 tablespoons flour
• salt and pepper
• 3 sprigs, fresh thyme
• peanut oil for deep-frying
• extra virgin olive oil for baking
• applesauce and sour cream for serving

Shred the potatoes length-wise in a food processor with the shredding disk. Chop the onion to a quarter-inch dice. Put the potatoes and onion in a small-holed sieve and press against them with several layers of paper towels to drain and absorb excess moisture. You want it to be as dry as possible.

In a large bowl, mix the potatoes, onion, and egg. Mix the flour and baking powder separately, then add add to the mix, along with the thyme, salt, and pepper.

if oven baking
Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. On a well-greased baking sheet, drop the potato mixture in 1/4 cup scoopfuls. Flatten to about 1/4 inch thick pancakes. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes, then flip the latkes and bake an additional 10 minutes.

if deep frying
Heat the oil to 375 degrees. Take 1/4 cup scoopfuls of the potato mixture, and form into balls in your hand. Flatten the balls somewhat, and place in the bottom of the fryer basket of a deep fryer. Gently place the basket in the oil, without submerging the potatoes completely. Fry a few minutes until golden brown.

Serve with applesauce and sour cream.