Continue the holiday feasting with Hanukkah’s potato latkes

FROM turkey and cranberry sauce straight to potato pancakes in one weekend. Not bad!

Hanukkah this year begins Sunday night, Nov. 28, so those who celebrate can move right into the holiday while still contemplating Thanksgiving leftovers.

Potato pancakes, or latkes, are the food most traditionally associated with Hanukkah. The story goes that over 2,000 years ago, after the Second Temple of Jerusalem was ransacked by invaders, there was only enough oil to keep the temple menorah lit for one day and night. Inexplicably, the oil burned for eight days and eight nights, thus earning the holiday the name “festival of lights.”

Food cooked in oil, like doughnuts and latkes, are symbolic of this miracle of Hanukkah.

In recent decades, many home cooks and chefs have played around with the ingredients in latkes, using vegetables like beets, zucchini, and butternut squash, and adding fresh herbs or different seasonings. Toppings are