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Food

Celeriac-Carrot Latkes with Creme Fraiche and Pear Sauce Recipe

This Pacific Northwest take on latkes comes from a Top Chef Master, and it is so good that you may never go back to regular potato latkes ever again.
carrot-celery-root-latkes-recipe2
Photo by Farideh Sadeghin

Servings: 16
Prep time: 30 minutes
Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients

For the latkes:
1 ½ pounds|680 grams peeled carrots
1 ½ pounds|680 grams peeled celeriac
1 medium yellow onion, thinly sliced into half moons
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons matzo meal or dried breadcrumbs, finely ground
1 tablespoon kosher salt, plus more for seasoning
1 tablespoon freshly ground black pepper
2-3 large eggs
3 cups|710 ml schmaltz, olive oil or vegetable oil
½ cup creme fraiche
¼ cup sprouted pumpkin seeds, or toasted
2 braeburn apples, or crisp red apples

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For the pear sauce:
5 pears, peeled, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 ½ cups|355 ml apple cider
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ vanilla pod
nutmeg
orange
kosher salt

Directions

  1. In a large saucepan, combine pears, cider and sugar. Scrape vanilla bean into pot and add pod. Simmer until pears are soft, then remove pears, leaving remaining liquid behind.
  2. Simmer remaining liquid until reduced to a syrup.
  3. Process pears through a food mill or food processor until smooth, then add syrup a few scrapes of fresh nutmeg, zest of ⅓ orange and salt to taste.
  4. Heat oven to 350°F. Peel celeriac, carrots, and onion; grate finely, using a box grater. Place mixture in a large bowl with flour, matzo meal, salt, pepper and eggs and mix well without kneading.
  5. Heat schmaltz in a large frying pan until shimmering. Form 2-inch patties with the mixture and fry in oil until golden on first side. (If patties are too dry to hold shape, add 1 more egg.)
  6. Turn to second side and fry until golden. Season after frying with salt and place on a sheet pan. Repeat until all patties are made.
  7. Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes.
  8. To serve, shave apple into thin slices and place to the side of latkes. Top latkes with creme fraiche and sprinkle with pumpkin seeds. Serve with pear sauce.

From Latkes Don't Always Have To Be Made Out of Potatoes

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