Congratulations! You’ve gotten past the Passover Seder meal(s) and lived to tell the tale. The pressure’s off and it’s just you and your nuclear family. But it’s only Day 2 of the 8-day holiday and you’ve still gotta eat. Time to start thinking of some more casual meals, and maybe using up those leftover matzo balls.

If the kids are back in school and you’re back to work, you’ve probably prepared a couple of batches of these Passover Rolls for your lunches. You might remember that I adapted that recipe from a 1960′s Manischewitz recipe folder that they used to give out around the holiday. One of those folders included a recipe for a meatball “stew” which used your leftover matzo balls and included a can of their Tomato Mushroom sauce. Well, if your grocery store is anything like mine, if you can find the product at all, the price has gone right through the roof (yeah, they know they’ve got you!).

I make my version of this Meatball/Matzo Ball Stew every year, but lost the actual recipe quite a long time ago, and stopped using the commercial tomato mushroom sauce even longer ago than that. You know what? You don’t need it. No leftover matzo balls? Well, if you don’t want to make a fresh batch, just cut up a couple of potatoes. It’s all good.

Passover Meatball Matzo Ball Stew
(serves 4-6)

For the Meatballs:

1 lb. lean ground beef
1/2 cup matzo meal
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. onion powder
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
2 Tbs. ketchup
1 Tbs. vegetable or peanut oil

Combine everything, except the oil, in a medium bowl until well-mixed.

Heat the oil in a large (about 6 quart) pot over medium-high heat. Form the meat mixture into balls about the size of a golf ball and brown in the oil gently, turning occasionally.

For the Sauce:

1 medium onion, peeled & coarsely chopped
3-4 carrots, scraped & sliced into 1/2″ – 1″ pieces
2 ribs celery, sliced into 1/2″ pieces
1 14.5 oz. can diced tomatoes
Water
1/2 tsp. garlic powder
Salt & Pepper

Matzo balls or 2 – 3 medium potatoes, cut into roughly 1″ pieces

Add the vegetables to the pot with the meatballs, lower heat to medium and stir occasionally, cooking until the onions are soft and translucent.

Add the diced tomatoes, fill the empty can with water and add that to the pot, as well. Season with the garlic powder, salt and pepper to taste, and stir to combine well.

Add the matzo balls or potatoes, and bring to a boil. If your matzo balls are very large, cut them in half or quarters.

Cover the pot tightly and simmer for about 30 minutes. Uncover, stir, and simmer uncovered for about another 10 minutes to reduce the liquid.

This is one of my favorite Passover dishes, and like all stews, it tastes even better the next day!

Wait. How did it get to be December, already? Here I am, going about my business searching for new ways to dispose of leftover Thanksgiving turkey, and there it is on my calendar: Latke Week! Potato pancakes, that is. Chanukah came early this year, time to light colorful little candles and to commemorate the miracle of a little bottle of oil lasting eight days, by feasting on fried foods. Yum! I thought I’d kick things off with my favorite of them all: Potato Latkes.

Traditional Potato Latkes (Potato Pancakes)
(Makes about 12 4″ pancakes, depending on size)

Ingredients:

2 lbs. white potatoes
1 small onion (about 3 oz.)
1 large egg
1/3 cup matzo meal
2 tsp. kosher salt

Canola or peanut oil for frying

Preparation:

Grate the potatoes and onion together, either in a food processor or with a box grater. Drain off any water and place in a medium glass bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir by hand, using a sturdy wooden spoon.

Pour about 1/4 inch of oil into a large frying pan and heat it on high, till a couple of drops of water in the oil, pop. And I mean only a couple of drops! Otherwise, you’ll start your own Fourth of July sound effects going. Seriously.

Now, choose your size of pancake: For a larger latke, scoop up 1/4 cup of the potato mixture, and place it in the hot oil. Using your wooden spoon or a spatula, flatten out the mound to about 1/4″ thickness. If you want a smaller pancake, use 2 Tbs. of the potato mixture and flatten.

Fry each latke for about 3 minutes on each side, or until crispy and golden brown, and remove to a plate lined with paper towels. If you’re making a lot of latkes, you may have to add more oil to the pan. It shouldn’t take long for it to come back up to temperature.

Serve immediately with apple sauce, sour cream, or as we did when we were kids – a light sprinkling of sugar.

Notes:

My ninety-year old mother, bless her, still uses the fine side of a box grater to grate everything by hand. The potatoes seem to release less water that way. I gave that up years ago, though, using the shredding disc on my food processor and simply draining off the excess liquid before adding the other ingredients.

Use a glass or plastic bowl to mix the latke batter. A metal bowl will instantly make the potatoes start oxidizing and turn pink. It won’t hurt the latkes any, but they won’t be white inside. They’ll be pink. Or beige.

This recipe is easily doubled, or even tripled, if you’re cooking them up for a larger gathering. To keep the latkes hot and crispy, set your oven to 200º F, line a large baking sheet with newspaper and put one of your baking racks on top of that. After draining off each batch of latkes, put them on the rack and place the whole pan in the warm oven. They’ll keep in there for a couple of hours.

You can also make these ahead! Just cook as described, and when the cooked pancakes are completely cool, just put them in an airtight container or freezer bag(s) and chuck ‘em in the freezer. To serve, heat your oven to 350º F and lay out the latkes on a baking sheet. Heat for about 15 minutes, or until hot all the way through.

By the way, I just learned a new fact about Chanukah today, by way of an e-mail I received from Jason at BlogCatalog.com. Did you know that there are 16 accepted spellings of Hanukkah in the English language? Hanukkah, Chanukah, Hanukah, Hannukah, Chanuka, Chanukkah, Channukah, Chanukka, Hanukka, Hannuka,Hannukkah, Channuka, Xanuka, Hannukka, Channukka, and Chanuqa. There is, however, only one in Hebrew:

However you spell it, Happy Chanukah! Or Hanukkah!