We
hope everyone will join us this Thursday, December 10, from 1 to 5 p.m. for
another delicious Pathfinder Produce market.
We’ve got all your produce items for holiday get-togethers, football
games, and healthy snacks, and our friendly staff members are here to share the
latest holiday news and greetings.
Just
a reminder, our remaining Pathfinder Produce markets in 2015 will be on
Thursday, December 17, Tuesday, December 22, and Tuesday, December 29, all from
1 to 5 p.m. Thank you all for making our
market such a successful program!
***
This week,
many of our friends are celebrating Hanukkah, the Festival of
Lights, and one of the staples for family celebrations is potato latkes. While these traditional pancakes are fried in
oil to a golden delicious crisp, there are some other veggie-based options for
you to try during this holiday season.
According to Wikipedia, latkes
commemorate Hanukkah, as the cooking oil used to make them symbolizes the lamp
oil that kept the Second Temple of Jerusalem lit with a
long-lasting flame. Hanukkah offers a glimpse
of the Middle East’s history, as it commemorates a battle victory during 165 BC
of the Maccabees, who were revolting against the Syrian king, Antiochus IV. (Antiochus IV was the heir of one of
Alexander the Great’s generals, Seleucus I Nictator,
who had ruled Babylon about 315 BCE.)
According
to the food
blogger Tori Avey,
who writes the “The Shiksa in the Kitchen” column, potato latkes became
standard fare in Eastern Europe during the mid-1800s, when a series of crop
failures led to the mass planting of potatoes.
(Before that time, ricotta cheese latkes were common for the celebration;
these were made popular by Rabbi Kalonymus in Italy during the late Middle Ages. The cheese connection celebrates the story of
the Jewish heroine Judith, who cunningly used her culinary wiles to inebriate
and decapitate the Babylonian general, Holofernes).
A basic recipe for potato latkes can be
found at Delish.com,
and a more colorful, purple potato variation can be found at Ecurry.com. (Purple
historically has been the color of royalty; that tradition also emanates from
the Ancient Middle East. Purple dye was
made in the Phoenician city of Tyre from a rare sea snail, and was incredibly expensive
to produce. Royal babies would be
dressed in purple cloth, hence the saying “born in the purple.”)
Veggie
based latke varieties may be found at these sites, and you may want to try them
to sample different combinations of flavors:
- Delish.com
– Vegetable Latkes: A recipe that
adds carrots and parsnips to the basic latke formula.
- Healthy
Recipes Blog – Spinach Pancakes: These
sound very easy to make, and use frozen spinach. I would think they could be made with fresh
spinach or kale too.
- Delish.com
– Beet & Potato latkes with thyme: This is another basic recipe (I think it fails
to instruct that you should grate the raw potatoes and beets by hand or machine
before mixing). If you work with raw
beets, be aware that they may stain your hands.
- My
Name is Yeh – Brussels Sprout Latkes with Balsamic Dijon Sour Cream: This recipe calls for canola oil to fry the
latkes, and also uses sour cream as the basis for a Dijon dressing. I would think you could substitute healthier
Greek-style yogurt instead without any difference in taste.
- Food
and Style.com – Butternut Squash & Leek Latkes with pan-roasted cumin: These rely on winter squash for the pancake
base and are fried in olive oil.
- Rodale's Organic Life - Celery Root Latkes & Fennel Pear Relish: This recipe uses grape seed oil and other more exotic ingredients.
Until
next time, enjoy the lights of the season and eat well!
Lori
