Tweaking Christmas Tradition: Lefse & Meatballs

I'm not sure if it’s because I’m rebellious or just lazy or both, but when it comes to holiday traditions, I’m not very traditional. 

Don’t misunderstand.  I believe in giving thanks (and not just once a year) and rejoice in celebrating the birth of Christ at Christmas and His death and resurrection at Easter.

But some of the "add-ons" to holidays seem a bit, well, added on.

I'm all for family customs, but I resist ones that require an inordinate amount of effort  (usually for the women of the family) and result in less family time rather than more.    

Take Thanksgiving, for example.  I haven’t cooked a Thanksgiving turkey in about 15 years preferring instead, if we are celebrating by ourselves, that my husband, our adult daughter, and I dine at one of the near-by plantations with restaurants that serve wonderful, if pricey, holiday buffets.  No shopping, no prep, no clean-up--just our small family giving thanks and being together.

This Thanksgiving, my personally-selected meal from the offerings at Houmas House consisted of boiled shrimp, marinated crab claws and smoked salmon.  That suited me fine since I’ve always found turkey to be a rather bland and dry accompaniment to the tastier side dishes.  Of course, I did make a pumpkin pie for our "second" dessert--that's non-negotiable.

And then there are the Christmas food traditions.  Last Christmas, we ate Christmas day dinner in a Mexican restaurant in Epcot in Disneyworld.  This year, traveling home from Universal Studios in Orlando on Christmas Day, we ate breakfast at a Waffle House (they ARE always open) and dinner at a (gulp) Hooters since the only other alternative was another Waffle House.  Thank God for the people who work on holidays so that travelers have a place to eat! 

[Why do we go to theme parks for Christmas, you might ask.  Well, there is nothing like screaming in terror on a roller coaster or shaking hands with over-sized cartoon characters to bring a family together.]

But no matter how or where we untraditionally spend the days around Christmas, there is one food tradition I must keep and that is having lefse and meatballs as close to Christmas Eve as possible.

Lefse is a soft Norwegian flatbread made out of potatoes.  Rounds of lefse are similar in appearance to flour tortillas but are much larger in size and thinner.  The simplest way lefse is served is by spreading butter on a quarter-round and rolling it up.  Often the butter is sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar before the lefse is rolled up for a for a sweeter snack.  Lefse is also eaten wrapped around savory items, such as sausage or the much-maligned Scandinavian dish, lutefisk.

[Lutefisk side note:  Lutefisk is made by rehydrating dried cod in lye water for several days after which it is baked or boiled for serving. The result is gelatinous and odiferous, and people either love it (or lie about loving it) or detest it.  My maternal grandmother, whose parents emigrated from Norway, claimed that in the “olden days” the lutefisk was stored outside the small grocery stores on racks or in barrels and that passing dogs would “assist” in the curing process by relieving themselves on the lutefisk.  I think my grandma was a lutefisk-hater.]

My grandmother, Grandma T. as we called her, always made lefse around the holidays and served it as an accompaniment to a Christmas Eve meal that featured meatballs in gravy.  (For ease of explanation, I would call them Swedish meatballs, but that sounds a bit traitorous.) 

Family legend has it that at one of these meals before I was born, my father, of German and not Norwegian heritage, wrapped some of his meatballs IN his lefse—and a new family tradition was born.   Ever the perfectionist, my father carefully schooled us in lining up 2 or 3 meatballs at the edge of a quarter-round of lefse and tucking up the bottom before rolling it up to prevent all the wonderful gravy from dripping to our plates.

Making lefse at home is not for the faint of heart—but when have Norwegians been faint of heart?  (See description of lutefisk above.)

It is a labor-intensive undertaking that requires peeling, boiling, and ricing huge quantities of potatoes to make the dough and a special rolling pin, griddle and turning “sticks.”  Thankfully, my dear Auntie Joyce has taught some of my sisters and cousins how to make lefse in all-day sessions she calls “Lefse 101.”   

I haven’t learned how to make lefse yet, but it is on my “bucket list.”  Until that time, I order my lefse from Granrud’s Lefse in Opheim, Montana, which offers good quality and reasonably-priced lefse and doesn’t require that you by a crazy amount as some companies do.  Also, until they recently started using Pay-Pal, Granrud’s trusted you to send a check after you received your lefse.  I love that!

Following is my version of the traditional family Christmas Eve menu. 

Meatballs in Gravy

Source:  adapted from my mother’s recipe

Yield:  4-6 servings (one-half of meatball recipe)

Meatballs:

3 lb. ground beef (80-20 mix is best for moist and tender meatballs)

½ c. minced onion

1 c. dry bread crumbs

1 tsp. salt

½ tsp. pepper

¼ tsp. nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350°.  Place meat and onion in a large bowl.  Mix dry ingredients in a small bowl.  Add to meat and onion in increments mixing with your hands until all ingredients are combined.  Form small, walnut-sized balls by lightly rolling the meat between your hands; don’t overwork or condense the meat too much.  Place the meatballs on an ungreased baking sheet and bake until no longer pink in side (about 20 minutes).  The meatballs can be baked as follows, refrigerated or frozen.

I usually only serve one-half of the meatballs preparing them as following:

Gravy:

1 can French onion soup

1 can cream of chicken soup

Preheat oven to 350°.  Whisk the two undiluted soups together in a 2-quart casserole dish.  Add the meatballs and bake covered for 1 hour or until bubbly.  Serve with lefse and/or over egg noodles (for non-Norwegian guests).

I know, I know—canned soup and “cream of X” at that!  But the flavor and consistency of the gravy is great.  I have also used a can of beef broth with a can of cream of onion.  My mother used one can each of cream of onion, cream of celery and chicken broth, which is probably enough for all 3 pounds of meat.

Carrots with Brown Butter Dill Sauce

Carrots and dill are a pretty classic combination, but the dill also echoes the Scandinavian notes of the menu.

Source:  original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 lb. baby carrots

3 T. butter

2 T. chopped fresh dill

Chopping herbs is so easy with a mezzaluna.

Process:

Steam or boil the carrots until tender.  Meanwhile, in a small frying pan, whisk the butter over medium-low heat just until the butter browns.  The butter should smell nutty; don’t overcook.  Remove from heat.  When the carrots are done, toss with the browned butter and dill.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve immediately.

Scalloped Corn

This is one of those dishes in the “comfort food” category.  I only updated the way my grandmother and mother made it by using the food processor.  I think a sprinkling of shredded Swiss or Gruyère cheese on the top during the last 5 minutes of baking would enhance the nutty flavor of the corn.

Source:  old family recipe card

Yield: 4-6 servings

Ingredients:

12 soda crackers

2 eggs

¾ c. milk

1 15-oz. can creamed corn

Salt & pepper, to taste

Process:

Preheat oven to 350°.  In a food processor, pulse the crackers into medium-fine crumbs.  Add the eggs and pulse until blended.  Add the milk and corn and pulse until blended.  Season lightly with salt and pepper.  Pour the corn mixture into a 2-quart glass baking dish lightly sprayed with cooking spray.  Bake for 1 hour until set and lightly brown on top.

Eggnog Pudding

This is a quick and holiday-flavored dessert that is perfect if you are short of time and aren’t, as I am not, a Christmas cookie baker.

Source:  original recipe

Yield: 4 servings

Ingredients:

1 package vanilla instant pudding

1½ c. purchased eggnog

½ c. milk

Small pinch each of nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves and ginger

15 ginger snaps, crushed

½ - ¾ c. whipping cream

1 tsp. rum extract

1 T. sugar

Process:

Prepare the pudding according to package instructions using the eggnog and milk as the liquid.  Whisk in the spices.  Sprinkle approximately 1/8 of the ginger snap crumbs onto the bottom of 4 serving dishes or glasses.  Pour in 1/8 of the pudding on top of the ginger snap crumbs.  Sprinkle the remaining (reserving 2 tsp.) ginger snap crumps over the pudding layer and top with the remaining pudding.  Whip the cream with the extract and sugar until soft peaks form.  Mound the whipped cream evenly on the top of the pudding in each dish.  Garnish each pudding with ½ tsp. crumbs.  Chill at least one hour before serving.