Happy Light!

An Ecumenical Holiday Post

The Happy Wanderer will be taking the next two weeks off to visit friends and family. Please enjoy this short post, and I’ll be back on January 10 with some thoughts about New Year’s resolutions.

Tomorrow is the winter solstice—the shortest day of the year. Right now those of us who live in the northern hemisphere are united in our longing for sunlight, cosy blankets, and hearty foods. This yearning is even more extreme in Europe, which is so far north that if we get sunlight at all in December, it’s fleeting. Our days right now last a mere eight hours between sunrise and sunset.¹ And so we bask in the light and cherish the warmth when we can.

On a rare sunny December day a couple of weeks ago, I hied myself to the mountains to soak up the sunlight and the scenery.

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A terrific way to warm up in the chilly gloom is to eat starchy fried foods. Many cultures have their own version of fried potatoes—tater tots and hash browns in the US, Rösti in Switzerland, pierogis in Poland, poutine in Canada, among many other delectable dishes.² We Jews celebrate Hanukkah (which just ended last week) by lighting candles to bring light into the darkness and to recall the miracle of the lamp that burned for eight days. And to honor the intrepid bit of oil that kept the lamp burning, we eat deep-fried foods, chief among them the latke.

Latkes

There are as many latke recipes as there are cooks. My version is quite basic; you should feel free to doctor this recipe up with more herbs, sweet potatoes, or maybe some zucchini or carrots, or whatever else strikes your fancy. Latkes can be enjoyed on their own or as a side dish.

Photo by Max Griss on Unsplash.

Ingredients

4–6 potatoes, depending on their size

1T salt

1 small onion, finely minced

1–2 eggs, depending on their size

1/4c flour

1/4c Italian flat-leaf parsley, leaves only, finely minced

freshly ground black pepper to taste

about 1/2c vegetable oil

Method

1. Scrub but don’t peel the potatoes and coarsely grate them. (Note: this step will be MUCH easier if you use a food processor.)

2. Place the grated potato in a colander over a large bowl and sprinkle the salt over. Toss a few times and leave the potatoes for at least 90 minutes to purge their excess liquid.

3. Dump out the starchy potato drippings (but don’t discard—save the liquid, which makes a great addition to soup!). Then, grab handfuls of the potato and squeeeeeeeze as hard as you can³ to remove as much additional liquid as possible. Place the squeezed-out potato back in the bowl.

4. Add in all the remaining ingredients and mix to blend.

5. Heat the oil in a large nonstick skillet until it shimmers and a drop of water spritzes and skitters. Drop in the latke batter using a 1/4c measure. Don’t crowd the pan—3 or 4 latkes is the most you can put in without cooling the oil too much. Fry, flip, fry, and flip onto a plate lined with a paper towel.

6. Either eat immediately, or place the latkes in a warm oven until all the batter has been fried up. My daughter, Casey, recommends saving leftover batter for breakfast the next morning. To refresh it, dump out a bit of the liquid (the batter will have become watery overnight) and add a bit more flour to the batter so that it is the correct amount of gooeyness, and fry.

Casey’s Applesauce

Traditionally, latkes are eaten with applesauce. I am not a fan of applesauce (or, as my family will confirm, anything sweet whatsoever). So I have delegated this portion of the post to Casey, who has a quick, easy, and delicious recipe for applesauce. (Or you can just use store-bought.)

Ingredients

4 apples

a bit of water, sugar, and cinnamon

a squeeze of lemon (optional)

Method

1. Peel, core, and finely chop the apples. (My note: you can also grate the apple chunks in the food processor after you use it for the potatoes. No need to wash the bowl or grater first—the starch from the potatoes will help thicken the applesauce.)

2. Place in a pot with enough water so that the apples won’t scorch and add sugar and cinnamon to taste.

3. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, “for as long as you can justify to yourself” (in Casey’s words), until the apples are soft.

4. Purée with an immersion blender, or just leave it chunky. Serve with a squeeze of lemon if you’d like.

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How about you, readers? What is your favorite way to feel cosy during the holiday season? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

The Tidbit

Speaking of apples, I first heard “Jesus Christ the Apple Tree,” by Elizabeth Poston, in high school, when our motet choir performed it. It remains to this day one of my very favorite choral pieces. The performance below is flawless. For the final canon, the choir surrounds the audience to make a joyful noise. While this motet isn’t technically a Christmas carol, some scholars think its eighteenth-century words were inspired by the English tradition of wassailing and of wishing health to apple trees on Christmas Eve. The words celebrate nature, new life, and convivial cheer. The song is a breath of springtime in winter darkness. Merry Christmas to all who celebrate!

I’ll sit and eat this fruit divine,

It cheers my heart like spiritual wine;

And now this fruit is sweet to me,

That grows on Christ the apple tree.

1. Why do the people here all not have rickets? It’s a mystery to me!

2. Here is an article about potato dishes from around the world that is guaranteed to whet your appetite!

3. Those studies that link grip strength to longevity are almost certainly confusing correlation with causation, but just in case, you can consider this step to be an exercise for improving your grip strength. Who knows? Maybe making latkes makes us live longer!