Frozen Kosher, Part I

Since it's Hannukah, and the supermarkets all had traditional Kosher foods on sale, I decided to try some of them.

Latkes are a potato pancake popular at Hannukah.
Last night, Chris and I tried Golden brand Sweet Potato Pancakes and Vegetable Pancakes, made by Old Fashioned Kitchen in Lakewood, NJ. These latkes are U-in-a-circle Kosher Pareve (which means they contain neither dairy nor meat). What struck me when I read the ingredients was the complete lack of chemical additives. The ingredients list reads like a normal recipe you would make at home. That is a VERY good thing.

We cooked them in the oven (there were also skillet cooking directions). The aroma filled us with anticipation.

The sweet potato pancakes had pineapple in them, which introduced a nice tangy note to complement the sweetness. These latkes were my favorite.

Besides potatoes, the vegetable pancakes also contained string beans, onions, corn, carrots, red peppers, and green peppers. Chris said he liked these better than the others, though both of us enjoyed both kinds of latke.

Latkes are usually served with either applesauce or sour cream to dip them in. I tried both flavors of latke with plain yogurt, and that definitely enhanced the experience.

Blintzes are stuffed crepes. They can be filled with fruit or cheese or vegetables.
For dessert tonight, I tried Cherry Blintzes, also Golden brand. These are also pareve. I cooked them in the oven, but next time I will cook them in a skillet.
The frozen blintzes looked like they could be burritos or spring rolls; they were wrapped the same way. Some of the blintzes cracked open while cooking and oozed filling. The filling was just like canned cherry pie filling. Maybe this was a problem with the cooking method I chose, but the crepe tasted like it wasn't done, even though I did cook it as directed. It tasted like raw pie crust dough. (Which, of course, I was picking in last week.) I wanted to like them more. I do have other flavors of Golden blintzes in the freezer to try, and maybe frying them will make them better.