I have been adding recipes for a while to a new cookbook so I could find them when I wanted to cook them. In the electronic age, a digital version seems to make more sense, since I can add, amend, advise, adjust, delete, and reconsider as often as I want to and you can access them if and when you please. I've included the recipes from my original cookbook which many of you have. I'm also going to be adding pictures as I retest many of these recipes. They aren't the latest thing or nouvelle cuisine. They're comfort food, good memories, treasured family recipes, and occasional treats as well as many healthier recipes I've grown to like in recent years. I encourage you to add comments, pictures, and favorite recipes to make this a real family cooking spot. It's the next best thing to sharing a meal.






Monday, January 18, 2016

Lefse

4 cups riced or mashed baking potatoes (cooled)
1 tsp. salt
4 Tbsp. butter
1 cup flour, mixed with 1 tsp. sugar

Mix all ingredients.  Dough should be about the consistency of pie crust. Roll into long roll about 2 to 3 inches in diameter.  Cut off small pieces and roll out to 6 to 10 inch circle about like a flour tortilla.  Bake on griddle or lefse iron until brown spots appear on under side.  Flip over and bake on other side.  Do not over bake or it will get crisp.  You can also add whipping cream or a little more butter.  As each lefse is baked, place it in a stack with waxed paper between layers and a kitchen towel on top to keep them from drying out and getting crisp.  Cool.  To serve, spread with butter and sprinkle with sugar.  Roll up or fold in half and then into a wedge to eat.

I can remember as a child in North Dakota going to church suppers at the Lutheran Church, which had many Scandinavian members.  The menu would consist of lutefisk, a dried fish which is soaked in a lye solution to freshen and soften, and then simmered or baked, and lefse, a flat bread made with flour and potatoes, which looks similar to flour tortillas.  The fish smelled horrible, but it was delicious smothered with melted butter, and the lefse was a special treat.  My mother said they also served Swedish meatballs and mashed potatoes, but I don't remember them.  This is my cousin Glenda Dietrich's recipe for lefse.

Recipe below from Sutton Senior Citizens, claimed by cousin Imogene Leininger McGee to be superior.  

12 cups potato flakes
1 cup butter
4 tsp. Salt
4 cups water
4 cups milk
4 cups flour

Melt butter in boiling water.  Stir in flakes, salt, milk, and flour.  Mix well.  Make into balks and roll out thin.  Add a little flour if dough doesn’t hold together.  Bake as above.  

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