I know! That’s a lot to say!! Now imagine having to repeat that out loud about 150 times. That’s exactly what I had to do last Sunday at “Beyond Bubbies Kitchen” at the Back Bay events center. I know that sounds like whining but it was a blast. I was stationed next to Stephen Coe. He offered “Pear Kugel”, which was yummy. We were both representing Kitchensurfing. For those of you unaware of what Kitchensurfing is, well your in for a treat. If you ever thought about hiring someone to cook a small dinner, cater a larger event or even supplement your dinners with weekly meals, your in for a treat! Kitchensurfing does all the leg work in finding you a chef. They asses your needs and get quotes for you from multiple chefs. The chefs send you a proposal. You fine tune it o simply accept. That’s it. Easy peasy.
My offering also came out great. In fact I ran out of the 400 latkes after only 3 hours. Which was fine as it gave me time to check out the other vendors at the events center. There were all sorts of delicious foods by various chefs from all over Boston and surrounding areas. In addition there was an author there as well. Ironically it was a book on my list of books to read, and i suggest you do as well. It’s called “The New Persian Kitchen”, by Louisa Shafia. Louisa was very charming and clearly enjoyed talking about food. This book is a wonderful and fresh new take on Persian food that will inspire you to rethink some flavor combinations and truly expand your palate.
The reason I chose Latkes as my sample was easy. Just a month or two ago I had a client who wanted 8 dozen gluten free latkes. Four different kinds. Sweet potato, regular, cheese and zucchini. The sweet potato latke I created was inspired by a Martha Stewart recipe I saw a while back. It has a bit of ginger ( I use fresh) and fresh ground cardamom seeds, which are exceptional when taken out of the pot yourself and ground. The flavor and notes are more crisp and defined.
I came up with the poached apples as I pondered what would go well with latkes. Applesauce! So I made my own apple sauce infused with cardamom. I added some citrus to give it some zing and sugar to give it some mellow sweetness.
Another topping that goes well with latkes is sour cream. I tested a few things and decided honey and Chinese 5-spice really complimented the spices already working.
This recipe was featured in the brochure they passed out at the event. Here it is below!
Also for a special touch, which isn’t in the recipe, after your done with the poaching liquid, reduce it by half. Remove pods and citrus and then reduce till you get a syrup.
Use the syrup to drizzle over latke. Its very very nice!!!
Ciao!
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