Savory Potato Pancakes

The other day I thought making some cheddar biscuits (you know, the fluffy ones at Red Lobster) would be pretty fun with some leftover chili.  Upon looking at the list of ingredients I quickly realized that was not going to happen...seeing as I was missing half of them.

Time for a new plan.  It had to also be yummy and kinda fun.

Oh yeah! I had some potatoes I needed to use!  Savory potato pancakes fit the bill.

I haven't made these babies in years.  I have a very simple recipe for Potato Latkes from a cookbook I had to use as part of 4th or 5th grade.

Simple is a great way to start.  The only thing I did differently was add 2 cloves of crushed garlic.

Fry 'em up for a few minutes on each side to make a nice crispy exterior, top with a little bit of spinach and some seasoned yogurt.  Voila, you have a fun side!

For a little info about potato pancakes go to Wikipidia.  They were a pretty common food around parts of Europe in days past.  I also found a PBS feature from a lady blogger who wrote a guest post about the history of Latkes for them.  Apparently Latkes come from Italy and were made with Ricotta, not potatoes.

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Potato Latkas
3 medium potatoes (4 if they are little)
3 eggs
2 Tbs flour
1 small onion
2 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp salt

Grate potatoes (squeeze out excess liquid) and onions, and crush garlic.  Beat eggs and mix all ingredients together.  Pour a thin layer of oil into the skillet, just a small puddle.  Plop small dollops of mixture into the skillet on medium-high heat.  Cook a few minutes on each side, until golden brown and crisp.  Carefully add oil as needed.  When potato cakes are done toss a few hand fulls of fresh spinach into the skillet stirring almost constantly until almost all the leaves are wilted.  Top with seasoned yogurt  or sour cream.

Seasoned Yogurt
Some plain yogurt
a sprinkle of paprika and oregano
bigger spinkles of garlic powder and dill
salt and pepper to taste
Stir.
Simple.
Yum.