POTATO LATKES

As a side dish for two people:

2 small to medium potatos
1/2 of a small onion (or less)
1 egg
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 coarse ground black pepper
1/4 cup matzo meal (more or less)

Oil for frying (vegetable, sunflower, canola, peanut, etc.)

Chop the onion fine by hand or in a food processor, but don't turn it into
  onion puree.

Grate the potatos until very fine.  I do this in a food processor by first
  grating them on the shredding blade so they are coarse, long strips, and
  then using the regular blade to convert them into not quite potato puree.
  Some people like the potato a little bit coarser -- this is a matter of
  taste.  Experiment until you find what you prefer.
Drain the potatos in a sieve for a few minutes, until all the potato water
  has drained away.  Place in a medium sized bowl.

Beat the egg with the salt and pepper.  Mix into the potato puree along with
  the chopped onion.  Add the matzo meal.  Matzo meal is preferable to
  bread crumbs, since they absorb more liquid.  Matzo meal is available in
  most supermarkets in Albuquerque.  It is hard to say exactly how much
  to use, since it varies with the consistency of the potato puree.  The
  idea is to make it firm enough to just hold its shape in the frying pan.

Heat oil over medium heat in a large frying pan.  A 12" pan will hold about
  8 or 9 latkes, which is how much you should get out of a batch.  If you
  only have a 10" pan, you will need two pans, since you don't want to
  crowd the latkes, or fry them in two batches.  You need enough oil to
  generously coat the bottom of the pan and then some.  The latkes will
  just barely float on the oil as the cook.  You aren't deep frying them,
  however.
The idea is to have the oil hot enough that the outside will brown (it won't
  if the heat is too low and the latkes will absorb too much oil), but not so
  hot that the outside is brown and crusty before the inside is cooked.  The
  correct temperature setting varies from stove to stove.  The oil should be
  hot enough to start frying the latkes as soon as they hit the oil.

Using an oversize spoon, spoon about 2-3 tablespoons from the bowl into the
  pan.  It should naturally form a latke as the puree slides off the spoon
  into the oil.  Give them enough room to get a spatula under them to turn
  them and allow them to swim a bit.

Cook for about 5 minutes a side, maybe a little less on the second side,
  checking that they aren't browning too fast or too slowly.

Drain on paper towels and serve hot.  They can be re-heated in the microwave
  the next day, but are not as good.

Traditional accompaniments are sour cream (adults) or apple sauce (adults or
  children).