Name: Cheese Latkes with Fresh Persimmon Sauce
Yield: Yield: 3 to 4 Servings
Cuisine: United States
Ingredients: ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ cup matzoh meal; Unsalted butter and mild vegetable oil such as canola or avocado, for frying; ¼ teaspoon salt; ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon; 2 tablespoons cream cheese; ½ pound farmer cheese (a 7.5-ounce package is fine); 4 large eggs, separated; 1 to 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup; 2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lime or lemon juice; 1 or 2 pinches of salt; 3 medium, dead-ripe persimmons, preferably the jelly-soft, acorn-shaped Hachiya type (see Cook’s Note)

Preparation info

Yield:
3 to 4
Servings

Difficulty
Medium

Appears in

Jewish Holiday Cooking

By Jayne Cohen

Published 2008

About

Crisp potato latkes are the taste of Hanukkah for most Ashkenazi Jews. But the first latkes, according to many food historians, were probably made of cheese. Today, latkes based on sweet curd cheeses–farmer, pot, and cottage–are still popular for Hanukkah and Passover as well, for they are usually thickened with a bit of matzoh meal, not flour.

Delicate and dairy-clean tasting, this version begs for a fresh complement of bright-tasting fruit. Instead of the traditional syrup or pres