Many of us were,and for many, it was a smaller than usual celebration due to the COVID virus which has ”plagued” us now for almost a year. We have been lucky so far and are hoping we can get our “shots” and resume our normal, not that exciting, but we like them, lives soon! I would like us to be able to get together for Christmas for sure!!
We had a quiet and delicious day and enjoyed the company of our son and family who live very close by. Turkey and all the trimmings including lefse.....
Moving on to other holiday treats! Lefse! Do you know what it is? It is a very old Norwegian recipe that our family has enjoyed during Thanksgiving and Christmas. My mom taught me to make it and my dear old friend Esther Egan and I made it every year for about 10 years for the Medora craft show. Esther moved away and I eventually passed the lefse baton to Ted and Phyllis Jessen (in-laws). They made it for a few years and then passed it to Phyllis’ daughter and granddaughter who have made it for quite a few more Years.
Here is a photo of the process. And below is a photo of the final product, courtesy of DIL.
This year there was no craft show, thanks to a COVID! But, for several years, my coworker Anna Moe and DIL, Kristy Olstad have been making it for the Beach area with much success! If you are not familiar with lefse, it is made out of boiled, riced potatoes, cream, butter and flour. It is rolled very thin and cooked on a very hot, dry griddle. I like to eat it with butter and brown sugar, Howard likes it with just butter, some like it with butter and white sugar. Some add cinnamon, some like jelly, some like it with their lutefisk, we have even made lefse tacos and they are excellent!
It is pretty labor-intensive and although you do not need special equipment to make it, it definitely helps. I have tried the instant potato recipe, and if you are used to our recipe, there is no way it compares, and the only work you save is the peeling and cooking the potatoes, so I figure you might as well make it as delicious and as fattening as possible! I also do not believe in skimping on the quality ingredients. It is too much work to not end up with a great product.
Here is my mom’s recipe. Do not put all the flour into the dough. Save out a portion for rolling. Also, do not add flour until dough is chilled and then roll immediately after forming in balls.
LEFSE
3 Cups riced or mashed potatoes
1/2 C cream
1/2 C butter
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder (optional)
2 1/2 C flour.
this makes about 16 lefse-we usually cook 10# potatoes and multiply the recipe by about eight, using a little less cream. I like to use half white and half red potatoes, but if I only have one, I prefer red. If you do a big recipe, it is best to add flour and roll out only about a fourth at a time.
if you have never tried it, you should!
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