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This is the ultimate Latke Platter to make for Hanukkah, Christmas or New Years parties! I love a good sharing platter for the Christmas season: if there are a few of you for a Christmas Eve dinner I don’t think you can go wrong with a good Christmas Seafood Platter, and I often serve some of my Gin & Dill Cured Salmon with homemade bilinis and all the trimmings on New Years Eve, but today I thought I’d go back to my roots and build a sharing boards around one of my all time favourite Jewish holiday treats, the humble potato latke.
What could be better than crisp, crunchy fried potato cakes flavoured with onion and garlic piled up with soured cream, smoked salmon, chopped onion and a little dollop of lumpfish caviar (my ultimate holiday hack, it makes everything seem so much more luxurious, but 50g which goes for absolutely miles costs just £2.50 on Ocado, cheaper than a packet of good quality smoked salmon!) for brunch or to serve with a glass of champagne?
I know the American serve their latkes with apple sauce (I will never understand it, so let us just move on!) but there are a few variations you can add in to really make your latke platter your own:
Switch up the latkes. I’ve gone for the classic potato here, but I’ve got a recipe for root vegetable latkes that would add a bit of interest, and cauliflower latkes if you’re looking to lighten things up a bit.
Switch to creme fraiche. I’ve chosen sour cream as it is lighter, but creme fraiche would be deliciously luxurious here.
Use cured salmon or trout. As I mentioned, cured salmon can happily be substituted for smoked.
Add chopped egg. A bit of the inspiration for this latke board is a traditional caviar bar, and whilst I thought it would be enough as is as I’ve got both salmon and caviar on here, if you’ve got more vegetarian guests coming finely chopped egg will make a great edition, bonus points if you separate out the white and the yolk.
Fry the capers. I could eat briny capers from the jar, but you can take them to the next level by frying them. Some people might say that fried capers on top of fried potatoes is a bit much, but this is Hanukkah we’re talking about, and entire Jewish festival with an actual religious and cultural reason to eat all the oil fried foods.
Regardless of how you wish to build your latke platter, just remember to have everything ready before you start frying, as the best latkes are enjoyed piping hot and at their crispiness, just as you set the board down on the table!
This is the Ultimate Latke Platter pairing crisp and crunchy potato latkes with smoked salmon, lumpfish caviar, chopped onion, capers, sour cream, lemon wedges and dill for the perfect Hanukkah, Christmas Eve or New Years Eve party or brunch board.
Ingredients
Scale
For the Latkes
2 large potatoes
sea salt
light oil
1 white onion
1 large garlic clove
2 large eggs
4 tbsp plain flour
2 tsp baking powder
freshly ground black pepper
For the Latke Platter
approx 100g (3.5 oz) smoked salmon
small jar lumpfish caviar
1/2 small red onion
capers in brine
approx. 150g (5 oz) soured cream
fresh dill
lemon wedges
Instructions
To make the latkes, grate the potatoes on the largest hole of the box grater into a large bowl – don’t worry about peeling them – and season generously with salt. Set aside.
Peel and finely chop the onion and the garlic. Heat a small splash of oil in a large, non-stick frying pan over a medium heat, before frying to onion with a pinch of salt until soft and starting to brown. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute until aromatic.
Meanwhile, in another large bowl whisk together the eggs, flour, baking powder, and a generous amount of salt and pepper until you have a thick paste. Stir in the cooked onion and garlic mixture, and set aside.
Over the kitchen sink, squeeze out the excess water from the shredded potato and fold it into the egg and flour mixture to make a uniform mixture.
Wipe any stray bits of onion from the pan and return it to a high heat. Add just enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and fry spoonfuls of the potato mixture in batches until very deeply golden and crispy on each side, setting the fried latkes aside on a kitchen paper lined plate to drain.
Meanwhile, prepare the trimmings and assemble the board, leaving space the for just-fried latkes. Tear the salmon into bite-sized pieces, and peel and finely chop the onion.
I'm a food writer living in the English Countryside. Welcome to my online diary where I share easy, weeknight recipes, foodie travel diaries and some of the best places I've eaten out recently.
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