Hanukkah latkes from Francesca Segal’s ‘The Innocents’
What’s better than a good book? Except maybe a good book and good food? As a bookworm and keen cook, I love nothing more than snuggling down with a book that has me turning down corners and mentally making shopping lists as I hungrily devour its pages.
With Hannukah, the Jewish Festival of Light, falling at the end of November, in preparation I gobbled up Francesa Segal’s debut novel ‘The Innocents’, set in the tight-knit, privileged Jewish community of Hampstead Garden Suburb and modelled on Edith Wharton’s ‘The Age of Innocence’.
Rather than being a straightforward retelling, Segal updates the setting to contemporary northwest London but stays true to the tensions at the heart of the original novel: the pull between desire, duty and social expectations.
The novel focuses on Adam, who’s been happily coupled with Rachel, his childhood sweetheart, for twelve years. Now newly engaged, Adam and Rachel seem set to follow in their prescribed footsteps and become pillars of their elite, idyllic community.
However, their perfect world is threatened by the return of Rachel’s wayward cousin, Ellie-implicated in a recent sex scandal-who is everything that the sweet, predictable Rachel is not and Adam is instantly enchanted.
Family get-togethers and holiday celebrations are the background against which Adam battles with tradition and temptation and the compelling, if slightly predictable, will-they-won’t-they game of manners plays out. Despite the predictably of the plot, the elegance of Segal’s prose; knack for comic observation and sparkiness of the characters’ dialogue had me devouring the book in one sitting.
As the food writer and rabbi Gil Marks quipped: ‘to know a community is to know its food’ and the lavish descriptions of the Jewish food culture that run throughout this novel really bring the community and culture off the page- from the preparation of the Friday night dinner’s roast chicken; to the scent of freshly baked challah bread; and finally to the Hannukah feast; which had me craving my mum’s own potato latkes.
For the uninitiated, think of a latke (LAT-KAH, Yiddish for pancake) as a dangerously addictive spin on the hash brown, made of grated potato and onion, fried until crispy and golden. They’re super easy; quick to make and are always eaten up in a flash- I recommend making more than you think you’ll need! Seeing as Hannuakh is next week, here’s a recipe in case you’re similarly inspired by Segal.
Make your own latkes
Serves 4 (optimistically, 3 if you’re hungry).
INGREDIENTS
1 large baking potato, peeled
1 small onion, peeled
1/4 cup all-purpose flour or potato flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
A few grinds freshly ground pepper
1 large egg
Sunflower oil or similar, for frying
METHOD
In a food processor or with a grater, coarsely grate the potato and onion. Transfer to a colander and squish out as much moisture as possible. Let stand for 2 minutes, then squeeze out again.
In a large bowl, whisk the flour or starch, baking powder, salt and pepper, and egg together. Stir in the potato onion mixture until all pieces are evenly coated.
Heat oven to 175 degrees and cover a large baking tray with foil.
In a medium pan, heat 2 tablespoons of oil until shimmering. Drop tablespoons of the potato mixture into the pan and flatten them with the back of a spoon. Cook the latkes over moderately high heat until the edges are golden, about 1 1/2 minutes; flip and cook until golden on the bottom, about 1 minute.
Drain on paper towels and transfer to the foil-lined baking tray, and transfer the tray to the oven to keep warm. Repeat with the remaining potato mixture, adding more oil to the skillet as needed. Serve with apple sauce, dollops of sourcream, or both.
Written by Hannah Stephings
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