Holiday eats🍪

Hey there Florida Foodie friends,

It’s your buddy, your pal, your distant but ever-present sense of dread, Thomas Mates.

It is December in Florida and I’m to say there is a slight chill in the air. I love the cooler weather, if only because I find it very funny to see so many Floridians bundled up with scarves and boots — similar to the skeleton posted in PinIt! by user DactylDoodler — as the temps dip into the 50s and 60s.

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That being said, it is the only excuse I’m going to get to make some cold-weather foods. I made a nice turkey chili the other day. I’m planning to make some matzo ball soup this weekend along with some latkes since Hanukkah starts tomorrow evening.

Ok, I won’t belabor this any longer.

Just a quick reminder, we don’t have a new episode of Florida Foodie. Our production team needed a little break in our recording schedule but we are recording a couple of new episodes before Christmas and then we will come roaring back in the New Year. In the meantime, you can also find every episode of Florida Foodie on YouTube.

Culinary lifeline👩‍🍳

Home Of Bright Choices holds a monthly cooking club, promotes the members’ cottage food businesses and will soon partner with Valencia College to offer a certificate program for young adults with disabilities.

Arlene Rhodenbeck was looking for a program that would encourage her daughter, who is autistic, to become interested in the culinary arts. When she didn’t find the right fit, she started her own nonprofit.

This is a great story about our most recent Getting Results Award winner. You can read the whole thing here.

Small Bites🍓

Florida food traditions🐊: Holiday traditions often revolve around food. We want to know all about your holiday observances, especially if they are Florida-specific. Submit your traditions here.

Sticker shock😲: Inflation has hit bottom lines all across the country, but it turns out not all states have seen the same price hikes. Florida is actually among the hardest hit. Click here to become and Insider and find out more.

Restaurant team up🌮: Lime Fresh Mexican Grill is partnering with 4 Rivers Smokehouse to bring three new dishes to Lime locations across the state. Click here to read more about the new treats.

Massive lobster roll 🦞: Apopka is now home to the biggest lobster roll in Florida. The Nauti Lobstah rolled out the massive sandwich for its second anniversary. Here are all the details.

Something to try at home 🍽️

As I said, Hanukkah starts tomorrow.

Traditional celebrations often include some deep-fried treats and none are more iconic than the latke, or potato pancake.

Here is my personal recipe.

Ingredients:

• 4 good-sized russet potatoes
• 4 carrots
• 1 small white onion
• 1 cup all-purpose flour or matzo meal (if you can find it)
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 whole egg
• 48 - 64 oz. (depending on the size of your pan/fryer) of peanut or canola oil

Step 1: Fill a large bowl or pot with cold water. Wash and peel your potatoes then grate them. Put the grated potatoes into the cold water as soon as possible. If you let the grated potatoes sit for too long, the starch begins to oxidize and they will turn brown. The water will prevent that browning and it will wash away a lot of the starch, which will mean crispier latkes. You should let them soak for about 15 minutes, but you can let them soak overnight if you are prepping in advance.

Step 2: Grate your carrots, onion and garlic. Combine all three in a mixing bowl and set aside.

Step 3: Drain your potatoes. Combine with the carrots, onion and garlic and mix together thoroughly.

Step 4: Now is a good time to start heating your oil. I like to use a 2 - 3 inch deep saute pan for this, but you can use a deep fryer if you prefer. You’ll want your oil right around 350 degrees.

Step 5: Here comes the hard part. It can be made significantly easier if you have some cheesecloth, but it’s not necessary. Place your strainer in the sink. If you have a cheesecloth, you will want to drape it over over the strainer. Place your potato mixture into the strainer/cheesecloth. Now, if you are using a cheesecloth, gather up the corners to create a satchel for your potato mixture. Now, twist it all up tight. The goal here is to get as much moisture out of the mixture as possible. Really put the screws to this bag of wet potatoes. If you don’t have a cheesecloth, you can do it by hand, but be prepared for a workout. You want to squeeze those motherlovin’ spuds for all they are worth. Again, this is to create crispy potato pancakes. Also, hot oil and moisture don’t mix well.

Step 6: Place your now thoroughly squeezed potato mixture in a large mixing bowl. Add a healthy pinch of salt and pepper to the mixture along with your egg. Mix it all together thoroughly.

Step 7: Slowly add your flour/matzo meal. You may not need the whole cup or you might need a little more. Add a little at a time and combine it with your potato mixture. You want it to achieve paste-like quality.

Step 8: Form your potato pancakes. I like mine to be about the size of a silver dollar. You may find that the mixture gets to be a little on the wet side as you go along. The salt that you added helps to draw out more moisture from the mixture. Just make sure you give your latkes a good squeeze as you form them.

Step 9: Fry your potato pancakes in batches of four or five. You don’t want to add too many at a time because it will drop the temperature of your oil. Remove the pancakes when they are golden brown on both sides. You want them to be crispy on the outside but still soft and toothsome on the inside. Once removed from the oil, place the pancakes on a baking sheet lined with paper towel. Once all your pancakes are done, give them a last spring with some kosher salt.

I like to serve these with sour cream and apple sauce. It really hits all the right notes of salty and sweet and crunchy. It’s a meal that I think anyone can enjoy unless you have a debilitating potato allergy — in which case, why are you making latkes, you masochist?

That’s it for today.

Please, send me your recipes so I can share them with everyone. My email is tmates@wkmg.com.

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- Thomas