After frying and freezing dozens of latkes in preparation for Chanukah this year, I am now convinced anything can be latke’ed. Of course there were the typical potato with-a-little-grated-onion latkes, and then typical-for-me were the broccoli and cheddar, cauliflower and parmesan, and carrot and parsnip. And new this year to the menu were these beet and cottage cheese latkes.

With a touch of dill, these magenta fritters have quickly become a family favorite. I love them because using cottage cheese packs protein into each bite. For a nice contrast to the woodsy flavor, I stirred leftover arugula and walnut pesto into yogurt for a wonderful creamy green sauce.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, I love roasting beets because it makes me feel accomplished with close to no effort. For this recipe, I used two medium-sized beets that I put into a small roasting pan. I filled the pan halfway up with water, covered it with aluminum foil and slid into my toaster oven at 400F for just about an hour. Make sure to check the water level about halfway through. The beets are done when a fork slid easily inside.

Everything comes together very quickly with this one. I simply grated the beet directly into the mixing bowl. To this, I added a cup of cottage cheese, a couple of eggs, some flour for binding (I used gluten-free and the results were still terrific), a pinch of kosher salt, and as much dill as I could patiently prepare. I find that hands work best for mixing everything together.

I first tried this recipe using a large beet, and this time used small to medium-sized ones. All told, it came to about a cup of grated beets total. A few tips on the frying: I have found that preheating the non-stick skillet, and then adding the oil into that pan was very successful this year. I add a little piece of carrot to the sizzling oil. I’ve read that it collects the browned pieces of fried bits that float around the pan and keeps the oil cleaner.

Ingredients:

1 cup shredded beets

1 cup of your favorite cottage cheese

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2 eggs

One-third cup flour

Generous pinch of kosher salt

Two tablespoons fresh dill

Neutral oil for frying

Directions:

The first step is to lay two layers of paper towels on a drying rack so it will be ready when you are done frying.

Heat a non-stick skillet over a medium-flame. When the pan begins to shimmer, add the neutral oil to about halfway up the pan. Add a small piece of carrot to the heating oil.

When the oil begins to bubble around the carrot, carefully add a measured quarter cup of the batter to the hot oil. Be careful! Depending on how big the pan is, you should be able to fit between four or five fritters per fry.

Give the fritter at least five minutes to form a nice golden crust. Gently flip with a plastic spatula and fry the other side until golden brown.

Remove the fritters and place them on the prepared paper towels on the baking rack.

Molly Parr lives in Florence with her husband and two young daughters. She’s been writing her food blog, Cheap Beets, since 2010. Send questions or comments to molly.parr@gmail.com.