Garlicky Edamame and Mushrooms

Published February 3, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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I love edamame. They are crunchy and have a nut-like flavor, but they have far fewer fat grams than nuts. Edamame are baby soybeans in the pod. The Japanese name literally means “twig bean” and is a reference to the short stem attached to the pod. The green soybeans in the pod are picked before they ripen and the pods are then boiled in water or steamed – typically with salt.  I first encountered them as a snack served in the pod prepared with salt and spices. You use your teeth to strip them out of the pod and eat them. (It is funny to watch people who don’t realize that they shouldn’t try to eat the pod after they get a mouthful of pod. It’s polite to warn them before they take that unfortunate step.)

I buy bags of frozen edamame beans out of the pod. They have been pre-boiled, and if you want to use them out of the bag, they only need a few minutes in the microwave. They can be tossed into salads, or eaten as a snack.

I made this edamame dish when I was craving some crunch. It is good hot or cold, although I preferred hot. I ate it for dinner, but it would be a nice first course. It has enough garlic to stop several vampires, so I don’t recommend taking it to work for lunch unless you don’t have to talk to anyone that afternoon.

Garlicky Edamame and Mushrooms

1 teaspoon olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
1 cup mushrooms (button or cremini), thinly sliced
1 cup shelled edamame beans
1 Tablespoon good balsamic vinegar
sea salt

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan.  Add garlic and cook, stirring occasionally, until it turns golden.  Don’t let it burn or it will be bitter.  Add mushrooms and cook for 4-5 minutes, or until all of their liquid cooks off.  Add edamame (you can add them frozen), and stir for about 5 minutes.  Add balsamic vinegar and stir until most of the liquid has evaporated. Remove from heat, and sprinkle with sea salt to taste.  Makes 2 servings at about 5 grams of fat/serving.

Orange-Balsamic Caramelized Fennel

Published January 24, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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I am very fond of fennel.  It has a surprising, slightly anise-like taste that often surprises guests, who don’t expect that in a vegetable.  This is a lovely dish, both to look at and to eat. I served it at room temperature at a buffet, but it would be nice warm as a side dish or cold as a first course/salad.  If you get very large fennel bulbs, the outer pieces may be tough and you will have to discard them.  The original recipe was from Cooking Light.

Orange Balsamic Caramelized Fennel

4 (1-pound) fennel bulbs with stalks, trimmed and stalks removed.
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons sugar, divided
1 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1/4 cup orange juice
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 garlic cloves, sliced

Cut each fennel bulb in half through root end; cut each half into quarters to form 32 total pieces.  Chop 1 tablespoon of the fronds; reserve.

Heat a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Coat pan with cooking spray. Place 8 fennel pieces in a single layer in pan; sprinkle evenly with 1/2 teaspoon sugar. Cook 3 minutes on each side or until lightly browned. Remove fennel from pan; recoat pan with cooking spray. Repeat procedure with remaining fennel and sugar.

Return all of the fennel to the pan. Stir in broth and remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer about 35 minutes or until fennel is crisp-tender and liquid is almost evaporated, turning occasionally. (The fennel bulbs will separate into pieces.) Top with reserved fennel fronds. This makes 8 servings at less than 1 gram of fat/serving.  It served about 15 people at the buffet (there was lots of other food) and was very good as a leftover for lunch.

Big Veggie Curry

Published January 20, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Big Veggie Curry is what I call a foundation dish.  It can be eaten “as is” over rice, which makes a delicious low fat meal.  Or you can add various things to it, such as shrimp or chicken. I freeze it in serving size containers to have on hand when I have a bit of leftovers that might mix in well. This curry is also a whatever-you-have-in-the-house recipe.  I often make it when I am cleaning out the refrigerator and discover odd and ends of vegetable, or perhaps a bag of vegetables in the freezer that is getting old. One of the times I make this curry is when I’m about to travel  long enough for vegetables to go bad when I am gone. I make up a pot of it, divide it in serving size containers, and freeze it, thus not wasting the produce and having something inviting to eat when I get back.

In many ways, this curry is more like the curries my neighbors in Mumbai made on a daily basis – less a formal recipe and more a way of cooking, each cook adding her own touch to the process. Women would come back from the bazaar across the railroad tracks from our apartment building carrying a tote bag full of whatever was fresh in the market and combine it with onions and garlic and the spices that were the staples of the Mumbai kitchen.  The beauty of this curry is that it doesn’t require specific vegetables or fruit. I sometimes add 1/2 a cup of raisins or some sliced peeled apples.  This time I had half a bag of frozen cranberries left from an earlier dish, so I threw them in too.  It was delicious. I don’t know why I didn’t think of it before.

This is not a “hot” curry, although you could add a couple of peeled, seeded chopped jalapenos to it, or some red pepper.  I tend to want to add heat when I am serving it if I’m in the mood, with a few drops of hot pepper sauce.

Big Veggie Curry

I Tablespoon Canola oil
2 teaspoons black mustard seed (optional, but it tastes more authentic with it)
1 teaspoon cumin seed
2 Tablespoons good quality garam masala or curry powder
1 big onion, coarsely chopped
4 cloves of garlic
2 cups of low fat vegetable broth (you could also use chicken broth, but then it wouldn’t really be “veggie” curry)
1 15 ounce can chopped tomatoes, undrained
8-10 cups vegetables, cut into about 2 inch pieces (you can substitute up to 2 cups of fresh fruit or 1/2 cup of dried fruit)
2 Tablespoons chopped cilantro

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the mustard seed and cook until you hear the seeds start popping. Add the cumin seed and garam masala and cook for about another minute, or until the spices smell fragrant. Lower the heat to medium and add the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onion is soft, stirring occasionally.  Don’t let it burn. Add a little of the broth if you need to to keep it from burning.  Add the broth and tomatoes. Add the vegetables (and fruit if you are using it.)  Bring to a boil, cover, and lower the heat. Cook for 1–2 hours until the vegetables are tender. The timing will depend on what vegetables you use. Stir in the cilantro and cook for 2 more minutes. This makes about 8 servings at 2 grams of fat/serving.

This is served over brown rice mix, with Greek yogurt on the side. My vegetables this time were potatoes, cauliflower, a box of frozen green beans, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and half a bag of frozen cranberries.

Molasses Spice Cookies

Published January 12, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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One of the joys of baking lots of cookies over the holiday season is that you have them in the freezer, waiting to accompany a cup of nice hot tea when you come home after struggling your way through freezing  “wintery mix” falling from the sky. I baked 5 different kinds of cookies in the last few months, bringing them with me to various gatherings, and putting the rest in the freezer for later.  When I was growing up, there were always homemade cookies in the freezer not only to snack on, but also to be able to serve something nice to guests who might drop by.

These cookies came from Parade magazine. They were not exactly what I thought they would be.  They are actually flat and somewhat soft – I kind of thought they would be thick and chewy.  They are not really too spicy. But they are delicious, both fresh out of the oven and defrosted for an afternoon comfort snack.

Molasses Spice Cookies

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses (not blackstrap)
1 large egg
granulated sugar for rolling

Whisk together the flour, soda, spices, and salt.  In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar, and molasses until well combined. Add the egg and beat one minute more. Blend in the flour mixture until you have a soft dough. Divide the dough in half and freeze for 30 minutes to firm up.

Preheat oven to 350. Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper. Put granulated sugar in a flat bowl or on waxed paper.  Shape the dough by teaspoonfuls into balls. Roll the balls in sugar. Place the balls 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 9-11 minutes, until the cookies are flattened and crackle-topped.  Cool on pan for 10 minutes. Remove to a wire rack and cook completely.  Makes 5 1/2 dozen cookies at 2 grams of fat/cookie.

Slow Cooked Venison Rolls

Published January 9, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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The man who did backhoe work at my house this summer walked in one day recently and handed me three packages of frozen venison meat from a deer he hunted this year. He said he knew I liked to smoke things, and that this was “backstrap” venison.  I wasn’t quite certain what that meant, but I thanked him, put two of the parcels in the freezer, and one in the refrigerator to defrost. It’s way too cold to smoke anything outside right now, but I wanted to try some of the venison, since I rarely get any (despite all the deer on my property eating my roses).

The frozen package looked like a roast, and I was envisioning some sort of hearty stew. Imagine my surprise when the lump of meat defrosted into very thin slices. Now this presented a cooking challenge. I have fond memories of a dish my mother used to make that we called “rolled steak.” It was thin slices of beef stuffed with chopped onion, placed on more onions, and slowly cooked on the back of the stove for several hours. I think the only seasonings were salt, pepper, and garlic powder. To me, as a child, this rolled meat dish seemed very fancy – although I now realize my mother was making inexpensive, tough meat stretch to feed our family. That dish seemed a little too timid to use with the venison, but I liked the idea of the rolls.  Venison is very lean, and takes well to long slow cooking that won’t dry it out. I decided I wanted something with a bit more spice and smoke than my mother’s plain rolls, and preferably cooked in the slow cooker since I had to go out later that day. This dish is quite spicy, although the sour cream tames it a bit. You can vary the spiciness by the amount of chili garlic paste you use.

Slow Cooked Venison Rolls

1 large onion, 3/4 of it sliced thin and the rest of it diced
1/2 pound of button mushrooms, sliced
2 teaspoons minced garlic
1 pound boneless venison slices
1/2 cup ketchup
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 Tablespoons chili garlic paste
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup non-fat sour cream

Place sliced onions, garlic, and mushrooms in the bottom of a slow cooker.

Lay venison slices on a flat surface and place about 2 tablespoons of minced onions at one end. (I’ve laid them on a flexible plastic cutting mat to keep the counter clean.)

Roll venison slices around onions,  placing rolls seam down.

Place venison rolls in slow cooker, seam down, on top of the vegetables. Sprinkle any remaining diced onions over the rolls.

In a medium bowl, stir together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, chili-garlic paste, water, salt, and pepper. Pour over the venison. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low for 4 hours. At the end of the cooking, stir in sour cream.  Makes 4 servings at about 3 grams of fat/serving.

This venison is pictured served over mixed brown and wild rice, which adds about a gram of fat/serving.

Banana Spice Muffins

Published January 3, 2010 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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have been really hungry lately. Maybe it’s the cold, grey weather that’s been hanging around for a few days, occasionally dropping what the weather folks call a “wintery mix”. Or maybe it’s because I am working over the holidays, albeit from home. Work from home wearing sweats, while an improvement over getting dressed up to go to the office, is still work.

At any rate, I decided I need to get back into my habit of baking a dozen muffins every week to stave off the times when I feel the need to eat something satisfyingly sweet and filling. Baking also warms up the chilly kitchen. The scent of aging bananas was perfuming the kitchen, so I decided to make a variation on my standard banana bread in muffin format.  By the way, when you use bananas for bread or muffins, they should be very ripe – mine were actually black, The riper the banana, the sweeter they make the batter.

Banana Spice Muffins

3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup egg substitute
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 cups flour
1 teaspoon ground dry ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cardamom
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup nonfat yogurt
1/2 cup raisins or currants (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F and place rack in center of oven. Spray 12 muffin cups with cooking spray. Whisk the flour, ginger, nutmeg, cardamom, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl. Put the bananas into the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat them until they are well mashed. Beat in the egg substitute. Beat in the sugar.  Add the flour mixture about 1/4 cup at a time, until it is incorporated into the banana mixture.  Beat in the yogurt. Stir in the raisins if using. Pour the batter into the prepared muffin tin and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until a wooden pick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean.   Remove from oven and let cool 10 minutes. Remove muffins from the pan and cool on a rack. Eat warm – like I just did –  or cold.  Makes 12 muffins. There is less than a gram of fat per muffin.

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

Published December 29, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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Someone in my office requested that I bring goat cheese and the famous Jezebel Sauce to the office holiday potluck. Never one to leave well enough alone, I decided that I should fancy up the goat cheese.  Since Jezebel sauce is pretty spicy, I decided that I needed to make the logs either sweet or rather plain.  I rolled one of the logs in chopped, toasted pecans. I wrapped the other in cranberries.

This recipe for cranberry-wrapped goat cheese log appeared in my local paper and is just in time for holiday parties. The recipe called for a one-pound log of goat cheese, but the Costco logs are only 11 ounces. In retrospect, I should have combined 2 logs to create a fatter 16 ounce log, or used less of the cranberry wrap, since the log came out a bit uneven (but delicious).  I also would suggest chopping the cranberries coarsely, since I thought the whole cranberries were harder to wrap nicely.  The log travels well if you wait to unwrap the plastic wrap until you get to your destination.  You can make it ahead and refrigerate it for a day or so.

Cranberry Goat Cheese Log

1/4 ounce package of unsweetened gelatin
1/4 cup water
12 ounce package of fresh cranberries, coarsely chopped
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup cranberry juice
1/4 cup orange or raspberry liqueur (I used Cointreau)
16 ounce log of goat cheese

In a small bowl, sprinkle gelatin over water; set aside. Fill a large bowl with ice and water, set aside. In a medium saucepan over medium high heat, combine cranberries, sugar, cranberry juice and liqueur. Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add gelatin mixture and boil, stirring occasionally, until mixture resembles a very thick jelly. Remove from heat and place the saucepan in the ice to cool.  (I actually poured the cranberry mixture into a medium bowl and set that on the ice, since my pot did not fit into the ice bowl very well.)

Once the cranberry sauce has cooled, lay an 18 inch sheet of plastic wrap on the counter. Spoon about 1/2 cup of the cranberry sauce on the plastic wrap, making an even rectangle slightly larger than the goat cheese log.

Place the goat cheese on top of the sauce. Spoon the remaining cranberry sauce mixture over the log, coating it evenly. Gently roll the log up in the wrap, using the plastic to mold the sauce around the cheese. Twist each end closed.

Note – I had trouble molding the sauce evenly. Note the misshapen wrapped log. This is why I think chopping the berries slightly might help.

Freeze for about 30 minutes to allow the cherry mixture to set.  Remove from the freezer and gently remove the plastic wrapper from the log placing the log on your serving platter

This makes 11-16 one ounce servings, at about 5 grams of fat/serving.

Thisis actually the leftover log I brought home.

I set the platter out with crackers and knives for serving.  The recipe suggested using unflavored dental floss to cut the log into one ounce pieces to serve it…but I liked the do-it-yourself log approach

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Stew

Published December 25, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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This was my Christmas Eve dinner – it has a nice tropical taste to offset the frigid outdoor temperatures we are experiencing.  This stew also packs quite a bit of heat – I mean sinus-clearing, eye-watering heat, which was fine with me tonight. It really warmed me up. But if you want less of a punch, reduce the amount of pepper. It was also very quick to make, so that I could finish baking cookies and wrapping presents, since I am rather behind on my holiday tasks (at least I got the cards out before Christmas this year.)

The  recipe for this dish came from Cooking Light. It was originally a bit high in fat for me, since, as usual, I want to freeze the leftovers and take them for lunch.  One of my principles for low fat cooking is to eliminate the oil, especially if all it is doing is being used to brown onions or other ingredients (I steam fry them instead).  But in this case, I thought that the peanut oil probably was going to add to the complexity of flavors in the stew, so I just reduced the amount.

This is one of those dishes that comes together fast, so I prepared all the ingredients in advance in order to be able to add them in rapid sequence:

That’s the cut up pork and plantains, the green onion sliced, the ginger and peppers in the bowl, and the liquids combined in the measuring cup.

In this stew, the plantains take the place of a starch like potatoes.  I didn’t serve it over rice. Rather, I sopped up the juices with some slightly sweet rolls.

Caribbean Pork and Plantain Stew

1 1/2 pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed of all fat and membrane
1 Tablespoon peanut oil
3/4 cup sliced green onions
2 Tablespoons minced peeled fresh ginger
1 teaspoon  Szechuan or pink peppercorns, crushed (I was out of Szechuan pepper so I used 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper)
1 serrano chile, thinly sliced (I used jalapeno)
3 plantains, quartered lengthwise and sliced into 1-inch-thick pieces (about 3 cups) My plantains were yellow with brown spots, not fully ripe and black.
1 cup  fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup rum
1 Tablespoon brown sugar
2 Tablespoons water
1 Tablespoon cornstarch

Cut pork into 2 x 1/4-inch-wide strips. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat. Add onions, ginger, peppercorns, and chile; stir-fry 30 seconds. Add pork; stir-fry 1 minute. Add plantains; stir-fry 30 seconds. Stir in broth, soy sauce, rum, and sugar; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes, or until plantains soften.

Combine water and cornstarch, stirring well with a whisk. Add cornstarch mixture to pork mixture, stirring well; bring to a boil. Cook 1 minute or until somewhat thick, stirring constantly.  This makes 6 tummy-warming servings at about 7 grams of fat/serving.

HINT: Plantains, unlike bananas, are rather difficult to peel unless they are dead ripe and black. To peel them, I cut off the ends, and then run the tip of a sharp knife down the side twice, about an inch apart. Pull this thin strip off. You should now be able to use your fingers to lift the remaining skin off the plantain.

Chocolate Mistake Cookies

Published December 20, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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The latkes were not the only disaster for the Hannukah party.  For the inevitable potluck, I planned to make a plate of cookies, including the famous lemon bars and an old recipe I found among my clippings called “Chocolate Crinkles”.  Something, however, went terribly wrong.  I should have realized something was amiss when the recipe said to stir the chocolate into the dry ingredients with a wooden spoon. Mine was way too stiff for that, and I needed to put it into my heavy-duty mixer.  I should have realized there was a problem when the recipe said to put the dough into the refrigerator to chill for a couple of hours until it was stiff enough to roll into balls.  Mine was already more than stiff enough. But I dutifully put it into the refrigerator to chill while I made the lemon bars.  Then I took out the rock-hard dough, and realized that the recipe said to put the remaining cup of confectioners’ sugar into a bowl to coat the dough balls.  What remaining confectioners’ sugar?  I had mixed the entire 2 1/2 cups specified into the batter. You see, the recipe didn’t say 2 1/2 cups, divided, just 2 1/2 cups, and I was in my usual hurry and read the subsequent instructions quickly.

But what was I to do. The potluck was in only a few hours, and I had run completely out of flour, eggs, and other baking ingredients.  So I rolled the very stiff batter into balls, coated them with confectioners’ sugar, put them on the baking sheet  – and baked.  The worst that could happen, I reasoned, would be that I would only have lemon bars to take with me.  Unbelievably, they chocolate cookies came out great.  They were slightly crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside.  They were very chocolaty.  Everyone loved them.  So I decided to provide the recipe as I made them.

Chocolate Mistake Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
3 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, divided
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 1/2 Tablespoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 1/2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
3 1/2 Tablespoons canola oil
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2 Tablespoons vanilla extract
4 large egg whites

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray one or two baking sheets with cooking spray.

In the large bowl of a mixer, sift together flour, 2 1/2 cups confectioners’ sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In a medium-size heavy saucepan, combine chocolate and oil and warm over very low heat, stirring frequently, until just smooth. Be careful that chocolate does not burn.  Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in brown sugar, corn syrup, and vanilla until well-blended. Using a whisk, beat egg whites into the mixture until no lumps of brown sugar remain.  Gently stir the chocolate mixture into the dry ingredients, beating on low until no lumps remain.  Dough will be very stiff.

Put the remaining 1 cup of confectioners’ sugar into a shallow bowl. Dusting your hands with additional confectioner’s sugar, roll portions of the dough into one inch balls. Dredge each ball in confectioners’ sugar until heavily coated. Arrange balls on baking sheets 1 inch apart.  Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until the tops are almost firm when tapped. Let stand about 2 minutes until the cookies firm up slightly. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and cool completely.  Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days’ freeze for longer storage.  Makes about 5 dozen cookies with 2 grams of fat/cookie.

Here they are nestled on a plate of lemon bars.  They don’t even look like mistakes.

Grandma’s Potato Latkes

Published December 16, 2009 Uncategorized Leave a Comment
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My little congregation had its annual Hannukah party on Saturday night. It was fun. We vainly attempted to sing the songs of our childhood…most of which came out like “Hanukah l’Hanukah na na na nan na” or “spin the whirling dreidel na na na na”.  We lit candles on the menorahs we brought, narrowly avoiding a conflagration.  I won a gaudy plastic electric menorah.

The only problem was that the latkes were burnt.  I don’t mean overdone, but most of them incinerated to hard flat cinders. It seems that the men of the congregation were making the latkes – a reasonably simple task. As you make more latkes, you typically put the cooked ones into the oven to stay warm. Somehow, the latke-makers were told to turn the oven up to 400 degrees – ergo latke cinders.

When I was growing up, my grandma had a latke party for all the grandchildren every year. The menu was latkes and more latkes with sour cream and apple sauce on the side. There may have been cookies or something for dessert…I don’t remember because I was always totally, blissfully full of wonderful, oily latkes.

Latkes are traditional for Hannukah because they are cooked in oil, which is symbolic of the miracle of  one day’s oil for the eternal light in the temple lasting for 8 days (the number of days of the Hannukah holiday).  And because they are cooked in oil, they are not exactly a low fat food.  But my latkes are only about 3 grams of fat per latke. The trick is having the oil hot enough so that the latkes don’t absorb too much oil, draining the latkes well on paper towels, and most important, not eating too many.

By the way, many recipes for latkes add various ingredients, such as chives or even other vegetables. Don’t do it!! My Grandma would be horrified. Those imposters are not latkes, they are some other sort of side dish. A good latke is potatoes and onions held together by egg and matzoh meal – nothing else. And some people use pre-grated potatoes. I guess Grandma might ok that, after all, she told me blintzes came from the freezer case.  I still grate my own potatoes and onions, albeit with the food processor and not the knuckle-scraping box grater…but if you need to save time, I guess pre-grated are ok.

Grandma’s Potato Latkes

2½ pounds baking potatoes, peeled
1 medium onion
½ cup matzoh meal
¾ cup egg substitute
1 teaspoon salt
a grind of black pepper (about 1/8 teaspoon)
canola oil

Preheat oven to 200 (you could also use a warming drawer if your stove has one). Line a baking sheet with several layers of paper towels.  Using the large holes of a box grater or grating disk of a food processor, grate potatoes and onion together. Using your hands, gather up handfuls of the potato mixture and squeeze as much of the liquid from it as possible. (I usually do this right from the food processor and put the squeezed potatoes into a large bowl.) Add matzo meal, egg substitute, salt, and pepper. Mix thoroughly – I do this with my hands since I haven’t been able to find a spoon that can mix it well enough.

Place a deep skillet over medium-high heat and add oil until it comes ½ inch up the side.  Heat until a little piece of the potato sizzles when you put it into the oil.  Cook the latkes in batches by carefully adding about 1/3 cup potato mixture for each pancake to the oil, pressing down on the mixture to spread it into a 3-4 inch latke. Don’t crowd them, and don’t make them too thick or they will burn on the outside before they cook on the inside.

Fry, turning once, until they are deep golden brown on each side – about 6 minutes total. Keep an eye on them so they don’t burn.  Using a slotted spatula, transfer the latkes to the lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you make the remaining latkes.  You may have to add a little more oil to the pan for later batches – let it heat up before you add more potato mixture.  Serve with applesauce and non-fat sour cream.  Makes about 15 latkes with about 3 grams of fat/latke.

OK, I confess – this picture lies. I did not eat only 2 latkes. I am sitting here blissfully full of latkes, with oily hands, lips and cheeks, feeling like I am 8 years old again.

Happy Hannukah.

ABOUT KAREN

I have lost 200 pounds. I did not do it through surgery – I don’t like knives and needles – or by joining a club, vigorous exercise, or rigorous dieting. I did it by gourmet cooking. To be precise, by cooking low fat, really delicious food. I love to cook as much as I love to eat. Food magazines are some of my favorite reading. I would feel deprived if I couldn’t have the sensuous experience of good food crossing my lips. This blog is about my perpetual feast, my passionate love of food, with recipes, photos, and occasional advice and principles that I have learned along the way.

More about me.

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