The Latke Gravlax- Thank you very much!

A fight broke out in the Test Kitchen over who would try and finish this sandwich- Mom won!

January 08, 2021. You girls are too young to know that the name of this sandwich is a play on the name, Latka Gravas, the lovable mechanic, played by the not always lovable, Andy Kaufman, from the 70s/80s TV show, Taxi. It’s also a helpful reminder on how to pronounce the word latke and another variation of the Citizen Caine. Of the three variations so far- falafel, eggplant and potato, it is my overwhelming favorite! I can’t think of anything better to use as a sandwich bun than two, crispy potatoes and the potatoes go so well with so many fillings!

Prep Time: 10 minutes, although you do need to make some latkes!

Cook Time: 0 minutes- It’s a sandwich!

Servings: 4

GET YOUR STUFF OUT

8 latkes, cooked (can sub fully cooked, frozen hash browns, if you’re in a jam)
8 ounces of gravlax- gravlax, smoked salmon and lox are similar, but different, and in any event, all delicious and interchangeable in this recipe- I happened to use smoked salmon for this post
Lox Schmear (See InstaRecipe Below)
1 small head of Bibb or other leafy lettuce, cleaned and torn into pieces
1-2 large vine ripened or heirloom tomatoes, sliced

Just looking at this, you know it’s going to be good!

COOK AND PLAY

You have to play Cheeseburger in Paradise by Jimmy Buffet, because any burger in paradise would certainly have fried potato buns! Speaking of potato buns, I used a 3.5″ cooking cutter to form the latkes into buns, like this-

Make The Latke Gravlax Sandwich! For each sandwich, apply a generous amount of the Lox Schmear to each latke bun before you artfully stuff smoked salmon, a few pieces of lettuce and tomato between them! Can you believe there’s only one step to this recipe- not counting having to make the latkes-?!

THE LECTURE

New For 2021- The InstaRecipe! I know you kids are busy and may not always have the time or patience for me to go on about cooking and food, so now Dad’s Dinner Diary has some of the shortest recipes on the internet- “The InstaRecipe”! InstaRecipes will be the essentials of every ddd Recipe, without The Dad going on about this or that, and posted on Instagram each time a new ddd Recipe comes out! Since you both are already good cooks, you should be able to figure out some of the details left out of the Instarecipe, but, if you can’t or you just want to appreciate my hopefully humorous writing and keen insights on food and cooking, there will always be the full recipe right here at dadsdinnerdiary.com. Click here to follow Dad’s Dinner Diary on Instagram so you’re sure to get all my InstaRecipes!

Speaking of the InstaRecipe! Here’s the Lox Schmear InstaRecipe! Use a medium bowl to mix 8 ounces cream cheese, 2-4 tablespoons of minced, fresh dill, 2 tablespoons minced capers, 2-4 tablespoons minced red onion, zest of a lemon and 1-2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice- you’re done! That was fast and fun, wasn’t it?!

More Fun With Latkes. Of course you can put pretty much anything between fried potato buns and it will taste amazing, but here are some ideas to get you started. The Big or Little Lat. 1 or 2 pan seared all beef or all plant patty/patties, special sauce, lettuce, cheese, pickles, onions on a sesame seed latke bun. The Fishy Latke. Pan seared fish or a shrimp/fish burger with tartar sauce and half slice of cheese. The Buffalo Latke. Pan seared chicken thigh, shredded and mixed with Frank’s Hot Sauce, diced celery, carrots and Blue Cheese Dressing, topped with pickles. The Veggie Latke. Roasted, smoked paprika spiced and thinly sliced carrots (looks just like smoked salmon!), avocado mash, lettuce and tomatoes. The Wake Up Latke. Fried egg, cheese- add morning plant or animal meat, if you like.