The potato cakes can be made with well-scrubbed, unpeeled potatoes. Clarified butter is pure fat. To clarify butter, slowly melt it and let it simmer until foam rises to the top. Remove from the heat, skim off the foam and strain the butter though a strainer lined with cheesecloth, leaving the solids behind. For 4 Tbsp. clarified butter, start with 5 1/2 Tbsp. unsalted butter.

Serves 2

Ingredients


  • 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
  • 1 sprig rosemary
  • 1 (1/2-inch) piece ginger, peeled
  • 2 tart apples, peeled, cored and chopped
  • 2 Tbsp. sugar
  • Salt
  • 1 medium-size onion
  • 4 baking potatoes
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 large egg yolks
  • 5 Tbsp. cornstarch or potato starch
  • 4 Tbsp. clarified, unsalted butter
  • Sour cream, for serving

    Directions


    Preheat the oven to 450°. Heat the butter with the rosemary and ginger in an ovenproof sauté pan on medium, and cook for a few minutes until the butter turns nut-brown. Do not allow it to blacken or burn. Remove the rosemary and ginger and toss the apples in the butter. Season with the sugar and salt to taste. Transfer the pan to the oven and bake until the apples are very tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven. Reduce the oven temperature to 400°.

    Puree the apple mixture in a blender. Transfer it to a serving bowl and set it aside.

    Grate the onion. Shred the potatoes using the fine shredding disk of a food processor.

    Combine the onion and potatoes in a large bowl. Season them with salt. Transfer the potato mixture to a clean kitchen towel, twist and squeeze out as much liquid as possible. Return the potato mixture to the bowl. Beat the eggs and egg yolks together. Beat in the cornstarch. Stir the egg mixture and half of the clarified butter into the potatoes.

    Form the potato mixture into six disks about 4 inches in diameter and nearly 1 inch thick, using small ring molds. Place them on a baking sheet with a nonstick liner. Alternatively, the latkes can be formed in nonstick muffin tins holding 2 to 4 ounces each. Brush the tops of the latkes with the remaining clarified butter and bake until they are golden, about 30 minutes. Unmold them onto a serving dish. Pass the apple puree and sour cream alongside.

    From City Harvest: 100 Recipes from Great New York Restaurants (Rizzoli) by Florence Fabricant.
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