sort of magic

 Today is the first day that I am able to wear my hair in a ponytail… it’s grown so much since a rather short haircut the week before Covid hit - 283 days ago. I am not rocking the style, in fact it’s rather hideous. But it’s keeping my hair tamed for the monumental tasks today… lefse (a double recipe) and tortierre.

We make lefse, a Norwegian flat potato pancake that is not unlike a tortilla, every year at Christmas. It is perhaps our longest tradition, in fact thinking back, with a few exceptions,  I’ve probably had it every year since 1973. For the last several years it has been our job for the family celebration, but since this year is different, we are making it for ourselves. Working on it together turns a big job into an enjoyable afternoon (complete with Christmas music).

It’s 2pm and I’ll start by saying the lefse is not going well. I can’t seem to get enough flour into the potatoes to make a rollable dough. No, it’s sticky and impossible to work with. We sent the potatoes back into the freezer to cool a bit more in the hope that it’s because the dough is too warm.

Earlier I made the pastry for the tortierre. I don’t think that was a disaster but time will tell.

After supper: Well, with Carm’s help we got the meat for the tortierre done clearing the schedule to concentrate on the lefse. The task loomed as the afternoon wore on and frankly I was on the verge of throwing the whole lot into the garbage but with a little push from Carm we got busy.

I added scads more flour to the first batch to make the dough rollable. The tortilla press was out of the question which meant a grueling task with the rolling pin. Once I got the hang of how much flour was needed to flour the board it worked okay. I finished that batch of dough and turned to the remaining bowl of now, very cold mashed potatoes. I put them in the kitchen aid, added flour and wham. Perfect dough that rolled out easily. 

I think what happened is that I made a double batch of mashed potatoes and pulled out ⅔ instead of ½ for the first batch. I didn’t put in ⅔ worth of flour. Plus the potatoes were still slightly warm. 

We celebrated with a taste test :-)

Now to the tortierre. When the time came I rolled out the pastry (so easy after all the practice earlier), filled it, and baked it. A big slice with a side of mashed potatoes was our supper (at that point I was too tired to even open a can of green beans). Carm (bless his heart), said it was the best tortierre he’s ever had. Good thing cause a regular pie plate makes 8 servings… 4 in the freezer and 2 in the fridge for tomorrow night. 

I chose the first beer that I touched, another IPA. I didn’t care for it on the first sip, but it grew on me. By the last sip I quite like it. It’s not a favorite but we’d drink it again..

"Baking makes me focus. On weighing the sugar. On sieving the flour. I find it calming and rewarding because, in fairness, it is sort of magic - you start off with all this disparate stuff, such as butter and eggs, and what you end up with is so totally different. And also delicious.

~Marian Keyes