Thursday, December 24, 2015

Jólahus


I don't think anybody feels like yet another Christmas recipe now Christmas Eve is here, let alone has time to spare to go shopping for some specific ingredient any more -- so here's just some Icelandic Christmas feeling.

And with this, we wish all of you a Merry Christmas:

Gleðileg jól!

The Christmas House


This jólahús can be found a bit outside Akureyri, a little off the National Road no. 1, on road 821, somewhat after the Akureyri airport. If you drive out of town towards and beyond the airport, there's a signpost pointing to the jólahús -- and there you find the place where there is Christmas all year long.

Well, to be quite honest, the Jólahusið is actually a permanent sales mart for Christmas decorations, but a very, very pretty one!


The house isn't even very large, but there are two storeys, filled to the last corner with Christmas decorations from all over the world: - many of them from Icelandic artisans and companies.
  
Typically Icelandic Christmas: Laufabrauð and Jólakötturinn
In this corner we found baubles shaped like pastry -- gingerbread and gingerbread men, donuts, macarons and very cute detailed pieces of cake!

Here are the "2015 Christmas Signs" -- I especially liked the captioned baubles: Gleðileg jól, elsku amma! -- Merry Christmas, dear Granny!


In one corner of the Christmas house you could find German incense sticks and Ore Mountain folk art from the former East Germany; in another corner, there were American Christmas decorations, and so on.

 

In one corner of the Christmas house you could find German incense sticks and Ore Mountain folk art from the former East Germany; in another corner, there were American Christmas decorations, and so on.

There was so much to see in this Christmas house -- and of course the 13 Icelandic yule lads, their parents and their cat held a special place of honor.




I must admit I especially liked the toilet at the jólahus -- decorated lovingly in Christmas colors! 

And with this, we wish you a very Merry Christmas!!!



Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Þorláksmessa

December 23rd - Þorláksmessa

Traditionally, December 23rd is known as Þorláksmessa, commemorating the anniversary of the death of Saint Thorlak.

Þorlákur (1133 - 1193) was the bishop of Skálholt and died on December 23, 1193. At the next Althing in 1194, the day of his death was decreed a holiday. Soon afterwards, the bishop inofficially became the patron saint of Iceland. Subsequently, Þorláksmessa became a holiday in Norway, on the Faroe Islands and (since the 18th century) in Sweden, as "little Christmas" or "pre-Christmas". The Catholic Church never officially recognised Bishop Þorlákur as a saint before 1984 when Pope John Paul II.canonized him and officially declared him the patron saint of Iceland.


Traditionally, on Þorláksmessa Icelanders eat "kæst skata", rotten skate.

The Icelandic species of skate does not excrete urea though its kidneys, but accumulates it in the body. Thus, the fish is generally not suitable for human consumption. To deal with the problem of potential uraemia caused by this delicacy, the skate is buried and fermented. It takes at least four weeks until the urea has decayed and the fish becomes edible.
The fermented skate is then placed in boiling salt water and simmered until the meat separates from the bones. It is served with boiled potatoes, homemade "rúgbrauð" (rye bread), melted "hneðmjör" (mutton tallow fermented in the sea air and then kneaded) and fresh butter.
 
Still frozen: Kæst skata and hnoðmör

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

Lakkriskökur

Licorice biscuits


Ingredients

500 g brown sugar
250 g soft margarine
2 eggs
500 g flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp grated ginger 
1 tsp ground cloves
2 tsp cinnamon 
2 tsp licorice powder

150 g margarine

250 g icing sugar
2 tsp licorice powder

 

Preparation 

Preheat the oven to 180 ° C. 

Stir sugar and margarine until fluffy.



Add eggs and mix well. Subsequently, add flour, baking powder, ginger, cloves, cinnamon and licorice powder and stir everything into a smooth dough.


Place the final dough with two teaspoons on a lined baking tray.


Flatten slightly with a fork. Bake in the preheated oven at 180 ° C on the middle shelf for about 8 minutes. Allow the cookies to cool down before removing from the baking paper. 

For the cream filling mix butter with the icing sugar and vanilla thoroughly and beat until foamy.

Spread the cream on the bottoms side of a biscuit and put another biscuit on top.


Bon Appetite!



Monday, December 21, 2015

Jólamus

Christmas cream with gingerbread


Ingredients for 6 people


120 g gingerbread
1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger
200 g cream cheese
50 ml syrup
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
100 ml sour cream
400 g whipping cream
2 Tbsp icing sugar

For decoration
6 gingerbread cookies
1 pinch of freshly grated ginger 

Preparation 

Chop the gingerbread thoroughly and mix in 1/4 tsp freshly grated ginger.


Fill
each of 6 dessert glasses with 2 Tbsp of this mixture. Make sure to keep a little back for decoration.

Pour the cream cheese and the syrup in a high mixing bowl and stir until smooth. Then add cinnamon and nutmeg and stir.
  

Add sour cream and icing sugar and stir until smooth.


Whip the cream until stiff. Fold in carefully 2/3 of the whipped cream to the cream cheese mixture.



Fill up the
the 6 dessert glasses with the mixture.

Mix the rest of the whipped cream and the remaining grated ginger...


... and put it on top of the cream in the dessert glasses. (Tip: Use a piping bag to make it look prettier.) Sprinkle with remaining crumbs of gingerbread and decorate with a small gingerbread cookie each. Place in the refrigerator for about 4 hours.


 
Gleðileg jól!

Sunday, December 20, 2015

Steikt gæs

Roasted goose


Icelanders mostly eat goose in autumn during hunting season, not just for Christmas. As a rule, only pinkfeet and greylags breed in Iceland. Other species of geese only passing through during migration in spring and autumn. The huntings seasons are very strictly controlled.
 
Greylags are the most popular because of their aromatic meat.




Ingredients 

1 goose
salt and pepper 

350 g minced meat
20 g dried wild mushrooms 
1 tsp birch smoked salt
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp instant meat stock

2 hot dog buns

 

Preparation 

Soak the dried mushrooms in cold water for about one hour. Then drain.

In a large pan, sear the minced meat with mushrooms and smoked salt.
 Cut the hot dog buns into small pieces. Add them to the pan, together with brown sugar and instant meat stock. Simmer for a few minutes.


Rub the goose with salt and pepper. 

Stuff the filling into the goose. Compress the filling as much as possible, but take care that there is still some room left since the filling increases a bit in volume a bit during cooking.


Seal the opening with metal skewers or toothpicks. 


Preheat the oven to 200 ° C.
 
Put the stuffed goose into the oven on a baking tray and roast for 15 minutes at 200 °. 


Lower the heat to 140 ° C and roast for about further 90 minutes.
  

Sprinkle the goose with a teaspoon of brown sugar to make the skin is nice and crisp, and then roast for another 10 minutes.

Our Christmas dinner - roast goose with red cabbage


Saturday, December 19, 2015

Jólasalat

Christmas salad


Ingredients

1/2 head of red cabbage
2 tsp redcurrant jam
4 clementines
1 small apple
25 g chopped walnuts
2 tsp olive oil
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of pepper


Preparation

Cut the cabbage into very fine strips. Put in a bowl and put a  plate or something similar on top to compress the sliced cabbage. Keep under pressure for 3 to 4 hours.



Wash the apple, remove seeds and cut into thin slices. Peel the clementines, split into slices and cut into halves.

 

Stir red cabbage and jam, ...


... add clementine and apple pieces as well as the chopped walnuts.


Season with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper, ...
 


Mix thoroughly and let it stand for at least 1 hour.
 


Serve the salad as appetizer or side dish.

The salad tasted a bit unfamiliar to us, being rather crunchy. But the more we ate of it, the more delicious it was.

 

Friday, December 18, 2015

Jólakonfekt

Christmas confectionery

 
Ingredients
 

100 g raisins
100 ml sea buckthorn juice
250 g marzipan
25 g icing sugar
1 tsp instant cappuccino powder
100 g dark chocolate
1 tsp chopped almonds
 


Preparation
 

First, soak the raisins overnight in the sea buckthorn juice.

The next day, briefly leave the raisins to drain.
 


Add marzipan, powdered sugar and cappuccino powder...
 


... and knead gently.
 


Shape the dough into small balls.
 


Melt the dark chocolate in a bain-marie and dip the balls into the melted chocolate


Sprinkle a few pieces of chopped pistachios on top. Drain well and allow to dry. Place the confectionery in the refrigerator!
 


Merry Christmas!!!




Thursday, December 17, 2015

Snickers smákökur

Snickers Cookies


Ingredients 

100 g chopped Snickers 
150 g chopped dark chocolate
150 g brown sugar
80 g butter
1 egg
160 g flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla 

Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the chopped Snickers and chopped chocolate with the sugar, butter, egg, flour, baking soda, salt and vanilla and knead to a smooth dough. 


Form the dough into two rolls, about 1 inch (2 cm) thick. Put them into the refrigerator for at least half an hour.


Then preheat the oven to 180 ° C.

Cut the cold dough rolls into slices 1/4 inch (5 mm) thick. Place them on a lined baking tray, leaving enough space in between.


Bake in preheated oven at 180 ° C for about 8 minutes until the biscuits are golden brown.