Christmas in the Rockies: a rich and hearty Norwegian dinner brings the Old World to Colorado

Every Christmas, three generations of the Maybach family--now ages 2 to 92--gather in a thoroughly modern log cabin near Keystone, Colorado, to celebrate the Old World in New World style.

A few years ago, Carol Maybach, then a recent culinary school grad, began exploring why chefs love to cook for a book she was writing, Creating Chefs. Looking into her subjects' food histories, Maybach became fascinated with her own family's culinary roots in Norway, and instead of celebrating the traditional American Christmas, it seemed time to acknowledge their unique ancestry. "I wanted to put together a menu that honored our past but that also reflected who we are today," she says. "An authentic celebration with contemporary twists."

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A Norwegian Christmas is full of ritual: Various Maybachs bury salt- and sugarcoated salmon in the snow to cure for gravlax; bake the seven traditional holiday cookies; roll out floury rounds of dough to make potato lefse (a chewy flatbread); and fry up thin batter into crisp snowflake rosettes to garnish creamy rice pudding, always the last course of the meal.

The Rocky Mountain setting occupies the noncooks. There's the Christmas tree to choose and bring in from the forest, races to run on sleds or skis, and horse-drawn sleigh rides to enjoy. Then everyone sits down to a leisurely five-course feast around the 10-foot-long pine table.

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Since burying salmon in the snow may be a little problematic in other parts of the West, and finding birch twigs to roast meat over can be tough, we've simplified Carol Maybach's menu. This being an abundant region in every way, though, you can easily buy the more traditional ingredients for your first Norwegian Christmas. Just make sure to include some aquavit for a postdinner toast to the cooks, past and present, who keep tradition alive.

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INFO: Creating Chefs (The Lyons Press, 2003; $28), by Carol Maybach

A Norwegian feast

* Gravlax with Norwegian caviar sauce

WINE: Blanc de noirs sparkler

* Fresh potato flatbread (lefse) and/or plain flatbread (flatbrod)

* Butter and lingonberry jam

* Pickled herring and/or herring in sour cream

* Apple, beet, and cabbage salad

* Roast pork with gingerbread sauce and celery root with bacon

WINE: Zinfandel

* Christmas rice pudding (riskrem)

* Aquavit and Christmas beer

NOTE: You can buy the gravlax, caviar, flatbread, jam, and herring at a Scandinavian deli, or order from Wikstroms' Gourmet Foods (773/275-6100).

Gravlax with Norwegian Caviar Sauce

Although the Maybach tradition is to bury their salmon in the snow to cure, buying the gravlax is a pretty good option for those of us who live in snowless parts of the New World.

PREP TIME: About 8 minutes

MAKES: 8 servings

NOTES: Gravlax may also be sold as Norwegian-style salmon. You can make the caviar sauce up to 1 day ahead; cover and chill.

3/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/4 teaspoon fresh-ground pepper
  1 jar (2 oz.) red lumpfish roe (Norwegian caviar)
  1 pound thinly sliced gravlax (see notes)
    Fresh dill sprigs, rinsed
  1 jar (2 oz.) black lumpfish roe (optional)

1. In a bowl, stir together sour cream, whipping cream, lemon peel, and pepper.

2. Pour red lumpfish roe into a fine wire strainer and rinse under cold running water. Drain well and stir into sour cream mixture.

3. Arrange gravlax on a platter or plates. Garnish with dill sprigs. Rinse black lumpfish roe in a fine wire strainer, drain, and put in a small bowl. Serve red caviar sauce and black caviar with gravlax to add to taste.

Per serving: 176 col., 61% (108 col.) from fat; 13 g protein; 12 g fat (6.3 g sat.); 2.5 g carbo (0 g fiber); 561 mg sodium; 69 mg chol.

Apple, Beet, and Cabbage Salad

This salad puts color on the table, to say nothing of hearty flavors.

PREP TIME: About 25 minutes

MAKES: 8 to 10 servings

NOTES: You can make the salad up to 1 day ahead; cover and chill.

  1 can (15 oz.) sliced pickled beets
  3 Braeburn or other sweet red apples (1 1/2 lb. total)
  4 cups finely shredded red cabbage (6 oz. total)
1/3 cup lemon juice
  2 teaspoons sugar Salt

1. Drain the beets and cut into matchstick-size strips 2 to 3 inches long. Peel and core the apples. Cut into 1/4-inch-thick slices, then into 1/4-inch-thick sticks 2 to 3 inches long.

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2. In a bowl, mix beets, apples, cabbage, lemon juice, sugar, and salt to taste.

Per serving: 70 col., 4% (2.7 col.) from fat; 0.7 g protein; 0.3 g fat (0 g sat.); 18 g carbo (1.4 g fiber); 116 mg sodium; 0 mg chol.

Roast Pork with Gingerbread Sauce and Celery Root with Bacon

In the mountains, the main dish might be venison or elk, but roast pork loin has a long tradition in Norway too. A sauce made with gingerbread adds a little interesting sugar and spice.

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PREP AND COOK TIME: About 2 1/2 hours

MAKES: 8 servings

NOTES: You can cut the celery root (also called celeriac) up to 1 day ahead; immerse in a bowl of water, cover, and chill. Drain well before using.