LATKES {POTATO PANCAKES} GLUTEN-FREE LATKES

 

I made these for the first time last night and I wonder where I have been living all this time! I will be making HUGE piles of these gorgeous Jewish delights for years to come.
They are:
1) easy
2) keep well in the oven
3) taste good cold
4) make great lunch box snacks
5) taste delicious

Seriously I was just  wanting something quick to make for supper and thought I will make some eggy omelette things with potato in them... Quick google potato pancakes / Latkes. I had read of them before but never made them and thought oh well lets try... and boy am I glad that I did!
This is one of those recipes where you don't have to be exact - you just take the ingredients and throw them together and fry and waalaa you have delicious-ness.
Perfect for making into canapes with dollops of cream cheese on top. this little potato pancake has no end to it uses.
*On a side note I think I will add more onion next time.

INGREDIENTS
4 medium to large Potatoes
2 medium onions
2 eggs
1 and a half cups GLUTEN FREE Flour (roughly) - you can use whatever flour you like
salt  and pepper to taste

METHOD
Peel your potatoes and then grate them on the long side of the potato to give you long strips (large side of the grater).
Place them in a sieve, over a bowl and place a plate on top to help squeeze out the potatoes water/juices.
On a separate plate peel and then grate the onion.
Keep pressing down the potatoes every now and then to get more juices out. It is important to get as much of the juices out as possible. You can also put the potato in a muslin cloth and turn to squeeze the juices out. I eventually squeezed my out in the palms of my hands.
Then mix in the grated onion.
Mix in the egg and salt and pepper.
Add the flour a bit at a time until you have a nice thick batter coating the potato strips
Heat up a frying pan nice and hot with a good quality olive oil
Spoon dollops of potato batter in the pan and flatten out a bit into rounds
Fry in batches until nice and crisp.
Place on plates and eat immediately or place in the oven at a low heat to keep warm

Enjoy

ps people will want seconds

Romantic Autumn Dinner and Consol Solar Jars

Consol sent me a few of their new solar jars, and I am so happy that they did.
After playing with them for a bit I realized the endless possibilities they could have at a wedding or party or function. Just think you could fill them with beads/ flowers / colourful tissue paper / sequins / glitter / coloured water (maybe half fill) etc....

But I decided with autumn approaching, the weather is mild with a slight nip in the air. I thought it would be nice to have a romantic evening dinner outside. Beautifully set out with warm autumn soup and pretty flowers accompanying the consol jars. They gave off beautiful light and I didn't have to worry about anything blowing out or catching alight .. I would have had to worry if I had used candles. Try a nice thick vegetable soup with a drop cream. You can find a recipe for

• Potato and fennel soup here, 

• Beautiful Tomatoes soup here 

• Warm Butternut soup here.

What do you think? A warm soup and some pretty flowers and gold pears.. pretty romantic to me.

If you are not sure what a Solar Jar is Consols website says "Solar powered LED lights are powered by sunlight which is harnessed through solar panelling fitted on the lid." So the sun charges the batteries via a solar panel in the lid/ on top of the jar and once charged you have LED lights that can be turned on for light. Pretty cool, hey.

• Photography - mine
• Props and Styling -mine

Disclaimer: These jars were sent to me by consol and I did not pay for them in anyway. Although I received them for free these opinions are my own.

ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE & HAPPY VALENTINES DAY

So yesterday was my daughters 8th Birthday and Saturday will be her party!
Hence I am up to the eye balls with party boxes, garlands, baking,sticking things etc...
BUT today is Valentines day, the day filled with red, pink and hearts. So I thought I'd sneak in a quick recipe filled with red... sorry no heart baked good this year.
This recipe is a guide line and you can vary it according to what you have in your fridge and herb garden or pantry - of course you have to have tomatoes. The variety of tomatoes doesn't matter but a lovely bunch of deep red, sun kissed and preferable organic will make a very delicious sauce which can be used on anything!
I use mine in pasta, on gnocchi, on pizzas and for dipping for chips etc...
As with most recipes - the better the ingredients the better the dish.


ROASTED TOMATO SAUCE
a bunch or two of tomatoes
an onion or two
olive oil
a teaspoon or 2 of  brown sugar
salt
pepper
basil
oregano
thyme

METHOD
Wash and cut your tomatoes in half. Place them in an oven dish with the cut side facing up.
Finely dice your onion and sprinkle on top.
Sprinkle over your olive oil - just a glug.
Season with a nice handful of herbs (washed and broken up)
season with salt and pepper and some brown sugar.
Place in the oven at 180 degrees celcius and roast until soft and mushy (stirring occasionally).
Take out then you have soft and sagging tomatoes that yield to your thumb and the surrounding liquid is thick.
Allow to cool slightly and place in a blender and pulse/ blend until desired consistency.

*hint* for a creamy tomato pasta sauce add some cream when blending

Can be bottled and kept in the fridge for a few days

enjoy

PURE restaurant Valentine's Day Menu judging

THE Amazing Springbok that stole my heart! with spiced beetroot puree, baby caramelized onions, cherry tomatoes, red wine sauce

On Friday I had the privilege of being invited to Pure Restaurant at Hout Bay Manor to do a tasting/ help with some dish judging :) I've never been a judge before ... I must say I quite liked it and found it quite fun. Taste , comment, taste, comment, write some notes, ponder - its strenuous work *wink*





It was a great idea: Each person in the Pure kitchen (except the main chef) got to cook and create a dish for the Valentines Day Menu... then one of their dishes will WIN and be the main course for the official V-day menu at Pure. There were 6 entries and they were all very delicious. But there were definitely 2 dishes that stood out!

Delicious duck on carrot puree, plum carpaccio with 3 bean cassoulet and love-oli (minus the duck in this pic)

Now note that I had let Pure know that i wasn't really eating meat (I have been 90% vegetarian for the last 2 and a half months) They very kindly allowed me to judge/taste the food minus the meat but I did elect to taste a small portion of the one and only game meat on the menu which was springbok and it was AMAZING! So much so I asked them if they would include it in their regular menu at Pure. (So that was my teeny tiny meat indulgence for the month.) but I just couldn't do all the duck, beef, pork and springbok of fear that I would fall asleep after living so happily and AWAKE for the last 2 and a half months! *yes I feel amazing being off meat*

Ok so back to the tasting of food.

Mark Coxon - far right

The winner of the Valentines day dish from Pure's kitchen was Mark Coxon - a 3rd year student at Silwood kitchens. His creation was: Plump duck breast, beetroot puree with pomegranate-vanilla reduction & lusty kimchi salad. It was VERY delicious - even minus the duck for me.

Beetroot Puree with pomegranate-vanilla reduction & lusty kimchi salad

My dining companions were: Max Lund (@maximusland), Retha (@Rethavs), Clark Truter, (@clarktruter), Cheyne (@cheyne_reaction) , Matt Mercer (@mattmercerZA), Lara Scott, Aletta Longari and Alexa from Pure (@purerestaurant)

Snapped a pic of someone else plate: crispy pork belly with Strawberry risotto, mange tout fan and granadilla vanilla syrup

Thanks Pure Restaurant and Hout Bay Manor for a very delicious day

EAT-IN Best Local Food Blog Awards

So this blog is in the running for an EAT-IN DStv BEST LOCAL FOOD BLOG AWARD.

I am 1 of 10 bloggers who are up for the prize/title of Best *LOCAL food blog. So that means I have 1 in 10 chance - YAY! If you help me *wink*  

Its this voting process that allows you to pick who has the best blog and tell the Judges who you like.

You visiting this blog and reading this so I'm gathering you probably like this blog - or better yet you know me and think I'm nice *happy dance*
SO then please vote here http://www.eat-in.co.za/Awards/Blogger-Awards

IT EASY PROMISE
->SELECT BETTY BAKE from the list and use your name and  email address to vote.

Its these kind of happy awards that make blogging a happy place and make you feel you have a little noddy badge of "hey, you're doing good"

Thanks for helping me out

*Local being South Africa (but you can vote from any where in the world with your email address)