Monday, December 18, 2006

Confetti Latkes: Parsnip and Carrot Pancakes


I'm generally a bit of a purist about Ashkenazi Jewish food. When a Jewish holiday comes around, I want to eat foods that taste exactly how I remember them from childhood - Simple, hearty, with no gourmet ingredients or avant-garde interpretations. For this year's Chanukah Party, however, I decided that to mix it up a little. In addition to a gluten-free version of the standard potato latkes, I created a recipe I have nicknamed "Confetti Latkes"... Colorful vegetable pancakes made with carrots, parsnips and chives. They are delicious with sour cream (but save the applesauce for the potato latkes!)

PARSNIP AND CARROT LATKES

1 pound parsnips
1/2 pound carrots
1 large onion
6 cloves garlic
1 tablespoon pepper
2 teaspoons salt
Juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 cup of chives, finely chopped
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup Rice Flour Mix
Olive oil for frying

Peel and remove ends from parsnips and carrots. Grate parsnips and carrots by hand or with your food processor's grater attachment. Place in large bowl. Puree onions and garlic in food processor and add to vegetable mixture. Add remaining ingredients and mix well.

Heat 1/2 inch of olive oil in a heavy pan until right before the oil's smoking point. Add 1/4 cup of batter at a time to the hot oil, pressing gently with the back of the spatula until each pancake is 1/2 inch thick. Cook until the exterior is crispy and a dark golden brown in color (approximately 2 minutes), flip and cook on the second side. Remove with slotted spatula and place on plate lined with several layers of brown paper or paper towel. Serve hot.

11 comments:

  1. when can i come over??these look and sound delicieux!

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  2. OMG - I love the pictures of these parsnip latkes...and let me tell you, they were SO. DAMN. DELICIOUS!!!!! Thanks for having us over. I think the main difference between the parsnip and the potato was that, I could eat twice as many of the parsnip! YUM!

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  3. Anonymous1:13 PM

    that's my favorite style for latkes :D that and with sweet potatoes and some curry lolz :D am i showing my Trini :D chag sameach :D

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  4. AllergicGirl: I wish we lived closer!

    Poet: I'm glad you liked them. I felt very appreciated by everybody last night.

    TriniGourmet - Ooh, curried sweet potato pancakes sound really tasty. Chag sameach to you!

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  5. gorgeous. i want them. now.

    i guess these are "the ones" you mentioned to me. i shall indeed be trying these.

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  6. Anonymous11:07 AM

    Do you think you could sub zucchini for the parsnips?

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  7. Anonymous: I have no idea - Why not give it a shot? The problem with zucchini is they give off more liquid, which may make the latkes have trouble staying together. In this case, try adding more egg and flour.

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  8. These turned out great. I didn't think to serve them with sour cream but next time I will.

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  9. The color in these latkes is so appealing. We're going to try a version. I need to be egg-free so it will be interesting.

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  10. We made these last night and served them with dill sour cream which was amazing.

    Karina, let me know how that turns out! These stick together less well than any other latke recipe I make, because the veggies don't produce any of their own starches. So I'd bet you need to add a lot of tapioca starch and potato starch (and maybe skip the regular all-purpose GF flour) and maybe some egg-replacer to keep them together. Even if they fall apart, they're totally yummy, though!

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  11. These are absolutely delicious! I enjoyed something similar at Whole Foods recently, and these are even better.

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