Nothing beats home-made latkes (potato pancakes).  They are primarily potato and onion, but some people make them “mushy” with the potatoes and onion ground to a pulp.  Others make them with the potatoes shredded like hash browns.  Either way there’s a lot of prep on the day you make them. 

This recipe was designed to accomplish two goals:  Have the latkes pre-made so they could just be fried on the day you want to eat them, and to be able to make them in a deep fryer.  Both goals are accomplished by freezing the latkes and frying them direct from the freezer.  (more…)

This recipe was inspired by a potato dish I had as a teenager at a cookout while on summer vacation.  It was a simple combination of sliced potatoes, onions and butter.  It was made in foil and cooked on an open fire.  My first All Clad pan was their 3 qt Cassoulet and I thought it would be the perfect pan to recreate this recipe, but in the oven instead of the campfire.  (more…)

I was at a party and along with the usual carrot, celery and jicama sticks there were these interesting looking purple/red sticks.  Some of the party-goers thought they were simply dyed jicama, but they were immediately identifiable to me as raw beet sticks.  They had a really interesting flavor, and they didn’t bleed when you held them.  Some people though they had seen them at Trader Joe’s but I decided to try and make my own. (more…)