In addition to decorating mountains of gingerbread and sugar cookies, a beloved Christmas tradition in my family was eating lefse on Christmas Eve. My Norwegian Great Grandmother would cook the thin potato pancakes every year in her tiny apartment on a piping hot griddle. As soon as the pancake was golden and toasted, we would slather on some salty butter and sprinkle a bit of crunchy sugar. I am so particularly fond of this dish that I searched for it on every restaurant menu I passed while travelling in Oslo. Later I found out that the dish, as I know it, is enjoyed by Norwegian-Americans living in the Midwest United States.
This post originally appeared as a holiday guest post on The Kitchn. You can view the entry here. Feasting on Art was nominated for a Homies award. Vote for us here!
Vincent Van Gogh, Still Life with Potatoes in a Yellow Dish, 1888
oil on canvas, 39 x 47 cm, Otterlo, Kröller-Müller Museum
Although Still Life with Potatoes in a Yellow Dish was created during Van Gogh’s time in Arles, he abandoned the vivid colour that dominated the works from this period and instead returned to the sombre earth tone palette found in his earlier paintings. The lumpy potatoes are aesthetically similar to the lumpy peasants he painted several years earlier in The Potato Eaters. Traditionally the potato was used to represent poverty and was commonly found in 19th century still life paintings. When potatoes were first introduced to Europe in the 16th century they were predominantly used to feed cattle and often were the source of poisonings when the stems and leaves where unknowingly eaten.
{Lefse}
makes a dozen medium size pancakes
3 medium potatoes, peeled and quartered
3 TB milk
1/2 stick of butter
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 c flour
Place the peeled and quartered potatoes in a pot of boiling water and cook until tender. Drain and mash well until smooth. Place mashed potatoes in freezer until cooled.
Melt the butter and add the milk, sugar, and salt. Mix well and add to the chilled potatoes. Stir well and add flour until a thick dough is formed similar to a pie crust. On a very well floured surface with a floured rolling pin, roll out egg sized portions of the dough into very thin pancakes.
Place a griddle or frying pan on high heat but do not add any butter or oil. Place the pancake on the dry pan and cook for about one minute until golden spots appear. Flip and cook the other side for an additional minute. Continue this process with the rest of the dough.
Serve with butter and a sprinkling of sugar (also nice with a bit of cinnamon). Roll into a log and eat immediately.
Merry Christmas. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday!
We are making Lefse tonight, the rest of your Norwegian-American Midwest relatives. Merry Christmas!
The Fizells are making Lefsa right now in Michigan. Yummy
Those pancakes mst taste wonderful! I#39;d love to visit Norway…br /br /Happy Holidays and best wishes for the New Year!br /br /Cheers,br /br /Rosa
Merry Christmas to you too! This looks fantastic – I love potatoes and pancakes!
what a nice story and great history around van gogh and potatoes in europe.br /br /merrry Christmas!
We celebrated our holiday lefse tradition early this year, and we really missed you! Maybe you and Jon will join us next year?
I was so happy for you when i saw this blog posted on thekitchn.com. br /Happy holidays daaaaaaaaaahling.br /*kisses* HH
What a lovely story!! Thanks for sharing this with us, Megan!!br /br /Happy Holidays to you amp; a warm, fun amp; apart 2010!!
I have never heard of a lefse? The Van Gogh potatoes are so simple and good and your photo, as always, beautiful.. thanks for the great post!
i love this post, and i love lefse!!! Uncle Tim#39;s tasted great last night.
Wow, this is so interesting! I#39;ve never tried these before so thankyou for sharing the recipe! I hope you have a Happy Holiday! :)
I love your style of blogging. Part memoir, part art history, wholly delicious. The lefse sound awesome!br /br /I hope you have a happy holidays!
Love the guest post, and congrats on the award nomination! Merry Christmas to you too.
Merry Christmas Megan! Love the sound of potato pancakes! And congrats on your award, the interview and the guest post too! Wow – good on you!
I’ve never tried lefse before but they sound absolutely delicious..maybe a Boxing Day brunch :) Hope you had a wonderful Christmas Day Megan.
Wow, these sound delicious. I’ve never heard of them…I’m of Finnish and Swedish background on one side but don’t know of anything similar. Anyhow, lovely post…and merry christmas too you!
Thanks for sharing and your dish looks so delicious!!br /MERRY CHRISTMAS Megan!!
Family recipes are the best and you can’t go wrong with potatos! One of the greatest veggies of all time! Happy holidays! ~Erin
Well done, my friend! Only you could romanticize a potato through photography.br /br /Mashed and frozen potatoes, must be a Michigan thing??? My mom uses a ricer to maker her potatoes totally smooth. Hope you had a great Christmas! -Siri
I am so grateful to have found this site. The artistic concept is brilliant, to say the least. Glad that you copyrighted this – you will have a cookbook one day and I would be the first on line to purchase it.
It was your blog’s title that got my attention. Such a handsome blog. I believe you have some New Zealand art posted. Is that right? I may be mistaken. I love your imaginative capturing of things. especially the dirty potato.Great moments.I’ll be back. Myx
Woot Woot! The Midwest is where its at (Wisconsin)! My great aunt used to make this every year and send it to us; my parents and I recently learned how to make it. Its a bit of work, but oh-so delicious. It practically disappears a couple days later. I can’t wait until we make our next batch :D Great post!
Megan, I’m just catching up on your posts (I’ve been sucked away from the blog world for a frightfully long time and am trying to get back into the swing of things), and so I have to leave a comment on this one…though I’m loving all of them…because my family grew up with lefse at Christmas too and I just love it. My dad’s whole family is Norwegian and immigrated to the Midwest USA a few generations back.
I hope you had a wonderful time in NZ!
Love the potato art! We grew up with lefse, too. I did eat a thicker version of it when I visited family in Norway–but it was served as a side dish, savory, with stew.