It didn’t take long for Edible East End Magazine to jump on the story as soon as the editors heard that our own Deborah Pittorino was going to provide 300-400 latkes for the shul’s Hanukkah party on Dec. 10. Before you could say “eggs and potatoes, please,” the magazine had set up a photo session at our shul, where the rabbi, the president, the writer and the photographer all pitched in to help Deborah turn out a sample batch of latkes so the feature story, fully illustrated, could appear in December’s holiday issue.

Turns out Rabbi Gadi is a champ potato grater, and the prez knows her way around cracking eggs without dropping bits of shell into the batter. As for the writer and photographer, they too were pressed into service between interviewing and snapping shots of the action. Chef Deborah was the chief fryer.

The result? Well, once the photos were taken, the workers got to dine on the products of their labors, topped with sour cream, thoughtfully purchased for the occasion by the chef, and applesauce cooked up by the chef the night before. In fact, what might have turned out to be a Bud vs. Bud Light-type of contest was actually won by combining the two toppings — a dab of sour cream crowned with applesauce.

   How you choose to sauce your latkes at the Dec. 10 Hanukkah event is up to you, of course, but you can take it from this writer, the combo is mighty good.

Question: How will Deborah will turn out 300-400 latkes? Answer: Lots of help — from CAST clients, who are learning how to use veggies and ingredients unfamiliar to them, like celeriac and sweet potatoes and some other secret ingredients Deborah slips into her latke batter. So a few days before our Hanukkah event, the shul kitchen will be humming with activity, and all of us can indulge in the tasty results — and all the fun plans — to come at the event.

See you there.                                                                                                           SMBloom photos