Windsor chef shares his fine-dining approach to Hanukkah classics

Schwartz’s take on the latke appeared to be a game changer for many in the class. Most everyone raised their hand when he asked how many had made latkes before where the potatoes became grey, brown and watery before they were done frying them.

“You can make latkes without making your kitchen a giant mess,” he said as he showed them how to make a potato pavé by pressing potatoes mixed with egg, some flour and sour cream into a quarter sheet pan.

“Can we add chopped onion to that?” asked one attendee.

“Sure. I’ve even been adding everything bagel seasoning to it, which takes it to another level,” Schwartz offered.

The potatoes were baked briefly, then cooled before he cut them into small bricks and shallow fried them in a cast-iron skillet. When he topped the crisp, deep golden-brown latkes with scallion sour cream and a spoonful of smoked trout roe, they looked like something any top restaurant might serve.

“I will make that, for sure,” said Carolyn Carregui, followed by a chorus of agreement around a table strewn with dreidels as people chatted after the demonstration while they waited to eat the meal they’d just learned to make.

The pre-Hanukkah feast ended with sufganiyot parfaits layered with vanilla custard and raspberry jam, the sufganiyot made from the same dough recipe used to make the French Laundry’s famed coffee and donuts dessert.

While it’s hard to beat the freshly fried version, Schwartz’s make-ahead recipe is a much easier and equally delicious way to incorporate sufganiyot when entertaining a crowd.

After that fourth and final course, class members trickled out of the synagogue into the dusky evening shadows with the glimmer of new Hanukkah traditions ahead.

Potato Latke Pavé with Scallion Sour Cream

Makes 12 servings

2 20-ounce bags of Simply Potatoes Shredded Hashbrowns

½ cup sour cream

½ cup all-purpose flour

3 eggs

Salt and pepper, to taste

To serve:

Scallion Sour Cream (recipe follows)

Smoked trout roe, such as Tsar Nicoulai brand

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix all ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Line a quarter sheet pan (13 inches by 9 inches) with a silicon mat or parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray. Pour potato batter into the pan. Using a spatula, level it evenly.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and cool completely. The potatoes may be stored, covered, in the refrigerator until you are ready to fry them.

Before frying, carefully turn the potatoes from the pan out onto a cutting board and cut into 1-inch-by-2-inch bricks (or to any size or shape you like).

In a large skillet, heat about 1 inch of canola or other neutral oil over medium-high heat until it reaches 350 degrees. Add the cut potato pavé to the pan a few at a time, being careful not to overcrowd. Fry until golden brown, then turn over and cook on the other side until brown. Remove the latkes to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain. Keep warm in a 200-degree oven while you fry the rest of the latkes. When ready to serve, top with a spoonful of Scallion Sour Cream and smoked trout roe.

Scallion Sour Cream

2 cups sour cream

½ cup cream cheese, softened

4 green onions, white and green parts, finely minced

Salt and pepper, to taste

In a mixing bowl, briskly whisk together cream cheese and sour cream until smooth. Add the minced green onions, salt and pepper and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary. Chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.

Beet Salad with Borscht Vinaigrette

Makes 6-8 servings

12 medium-size golden beets

½ cups hazelnuts

6 ounce log chevre or other fresh goat cheese

Mâche lettuce (or substitute watercress or arugula)

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

For the vinaigrette

2 cups beet juice

2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar

¼ red onion

2 tablespoons hazelnut oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Wash the beets and trim off the tops, leaving an inch or so of stem attached. Wrap beets 2 or 3 at a time in aluminum foil. If beets are different sizes, wrap beets of a similar size together in foil so you can remove them by size as they finish roasting.

Place wrapped beets on a rimmed baking sheet and roast for 40 to 45 minutes. Use a sharp paring knife to test for doneness. The knife should easily pierce through the foil into the middle of the beet. If it meets any resistance, roast for 5 to 10 minutes longer. Remove beets from the oven and let rest in the foil until they are cool enough to handle. When they are, unwrap beets and, using the knife, cut off the tops and use your fingers to slip the skin off.

Slice the beets and add to a mixing bowl. Drizzle the beets with a couple tablespoons of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Set aside until ready to serve.

While the beets roast, make the vinaigrette. In a heavy stainless steel pot, add beet juice and 2 tablespoons of horseradish. Turn heat to medium and cook to reduce the liquid.

While liquid cooks, dice the red onion and add half of it to the beet juice reduction. Continue cooking until the liquid is reduced by half.

Finely mince the remaining red onion and set aside.

Remove the beet juice from the heat and pour it out through a strainer to remove the red onion. Return the liquid to the pan and add the red wine vinegar. Continue cooking the liquid until it becomes syrupy and coats the back of a spoon. Turn off the heat and add the minced red onion and remaining 2 teaspoons of horseradish. Whisk in the hazelnut oil and season with salt and pepper. Pour into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. Vinaigrette will keep in the refrigerator for several days.

While beets cool, add hazelnuts to the sheet pan and toast in the oven for 5 to 10 minutes until they are golden and fragrant. Remove from oven and allow to cool. On a cutting board, use the side of a knife and the weight of your hand to crack the hazelnuts into pieces. Set aside.

When ready to serve, place the roasted beets on a platter or individual plates. Drizzle with some of the dressing. Top beets with a generous sprinkling of crushed hazelnuts and goat cheese. Top with a small handful of mâché, arugula or watercress. Drizzle with more dressing and serve.

Joshua Schwartz’s method for making this barley risotto keeps it dairy-free. That means it’s kosher if served with meat, yet it’s still creamy. He recommends serving it with braised beef short ribs and some broccoli crisped in the frying oil from the latkes.

Mushroom barley risotto

Makes 10-12 servings

2 cups pearled barley

4 cups chicken broth

1 pound button mushrooms, sliced

½ white onion, finely diced

8 cups water

4 tablespoons olive oil

½ cup arborio rice (risotto)

Salt and pepper

Vegan cashew Parmesan cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place barley on a sheet pan and toast in oven until golden brown, about 15 minutes, stirring halfway through. Transfer toasted barley to a heavy stainless steel pot and cover with chicken broth. Turn heat to medium and bring to a simmer, cooking until barley is tender. (You may need to add some water until barley becomes tender.)

Once barley is tender, drain it and reserve the liquid separately. Set drained barley aside.

Heat a saute pan with the olive oil over medium heat. When oil begins to shimmer, add mushrooms and onions and cook until tender and the onions become translucent; don’t let them get too brown. Turn off heat and remove half the mushroom and onion mixture to the stainless steel pot you cooked the barley in. Add arborio rice, reserved barley liquid and additional water until rice is covered. Cook over medium-high heat until rice is very soft.

Transfer this rice mixture to a blender and blend until the mixture is fully creamy and smooth, adding extra water if the mixture is too thick. Because this mixture is hot, make sure to remove the center cap from the blender and cover with a towel while you blend to prevent the hot mixture from exploding.

Return mixture to the pot and season to taste with salt, pepper and vegan Parmesan, if using. Stir in reserved barley and reserved mushroom and onion mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning. Reheat over medium-low heat before serving.

Sufganiyot are Israeli jelly doughnuts. By using them in a parfait, you can skip the step of filling them and just layer jam into the parfait. Chef Joshua Schwartz recommends making parfaits when entertaining because you can chill them until you’re ready to serve them. This allows cooks to enjoy the company of their guests rather than standing in the kitchen frying doughnuts all night.

Sufganiyot (doughnut) Parfaits

Makes 8 servings

For the Sufganiyot sponge

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons flour

½ cup plus 1 tablespoon water

½ ounce of fresh, compressed yeast (or 2 teaspoons of dry yeast)

For the dough

2 ¼ cups flour

¼ cup sugar

1 ½ teaspoons salt

12 egg yolks

4 tablespoons butter, melted

½ ounce fresh compressed yeast (or 2 teaspoons of dry yeast)

¼ cup milk

For the custard

4 cups milk

1 cup sugar, divided

1 vanilla bean pod

2 eggs

4 egg yolks

⅔ cup cornstarch

6 tablespoons of butter, cut into pats

To serve

Fried sufganiyot

Custard

1 cup raspberry jam

Whipped cream

To make the sponge: Dissolve the yeast in water and add flour. Stir to combine and let mixture proof until it is double in size, when it will then be ready to combine with the dough.

To make the dough: Combine yeast with milk, butter and egg yolks. Add this mix to the proofed sponge. Add flour, sugar and salt and combine just until incorporated, being careful not to overwork the dough. Cover and allow to proof in a cool space overnight.

The next day, heat 1 to 2 inches of oil in a heavy-bottom pan to 350 degrees.

While the oil heats, turn the dough out onto a floured surface and gently roll out into a rectangle about ½ inch thick. Using a cookie or biscuit cutter, cut out circles of dough. Slip them gently into the hot oil and cook until the dough puffs and turns golden brown, about 3 to 4 minutes. Using tongs, gently flip the dough over and cook on the other side, another 3 to 4 minutes. Remove to a paper-towel-lined plate to drain and repeat with remaining dough.

Note: You also can freeze the cut-out sufganiyot. When ready to fry, remove them from freezer and allow to thaw, covered lightly with plastic wrap, for 15 to 20 minutes while the oil heats.

To make the custard: Split the vanilla bean pod in half and, using the tip of a knife, scrape out the seeds.

In a large saucepan, add milk, vanilla bean seeds and all but 2 tablespoons of the remaining sugar. Heat over medium heat and bring to a boil, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar.

While the milk heats, in a medium bowl whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, cornstarch and the 2 remaining tablespoons of sugar.

Once the milk comes to a boil, remove from heat. Now you need to temper the eggs. To do this, slowly ladle a quarter cup of the hot milk into the egg mixture while whisking constantly. Continue adding a little bit more milk at a time, continuing to whisk until the egg mixture feels very warm. This keeps the eggs from scrambling when you add them to hot liquid. Now pour the tempered egg mixture back into the pot of milk while whisking constantly. Return the mixture to medium heat, stirring constantly until it starts to bubble and thicken. Once it has bubbled for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, remove from heat and stir in the pats of butter.

Strain, if desired, into a bowl to cool. Cover the surface of the custard directly with plastic wrap to keep a skin from forming.

To serve: Cut the cooked sufganiyot into bite-size pieces. In 8 parfait glasses or jam jars, add a layer of custard and top with a layer of sufganiyot and a layer of jam. Top with another layer of sufganiyot, a layer of custard and a final layer of sufganiyot. Garnish with whipped cream. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

You can reach Staff Writer Jennifer Graue at jennifer.graue@pressdemocrat.com