Steiktar fiskibollur

Fried fish balls

Fish balls are one of the typical everyday foods in Iceland. They are also regularly available in school canteens and similar establishments, and you can also buy them ready-made in the supermarket. Add potatoes and sauce - you have a typical Icelandic meal!

Ingredients

750 g cod
1 stalk of leek
100 ml milk
80 g flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Margarine for frying


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 250 °F (120 °C) upper/lower heat.

Wash and clean the fish fillet and chop it roughly.

Also wash and clean the leek and cut it into coarse pieces.

Place the fish and leeks in a blender and chop thoroughly.

Then mix the mixture with the milk, flour, salt and pepper in a large bowl...

...process into a smooth dough and form dumplings out of it.

Attention - for frozen cod, 100 ml of milk is enough; for fresh cod carefully add a little more milk until a nice, moist, smooth consistency is achieved, but can still be easily formed into dumplings!

Heat the margarine in a large pan and fry the fish balls on both sides until they are golden brown.

Then bake the fish balls in a fireproof dish in the oven for about 15 minutes until they are thoroughly cooked through.

Serve the fish balls in the classic way with sauce and potatoes - we served them with white onion sauce and sprinkled the whole thing with a little thyme, really delicious!

During our stay in Iceland during the fall holidays, I (once again) took the opportunity to photograph typical Icelandic food in front of a typical Icelandic landscape.

So here it is:

Fiskibollur on Kvernufoss

[Translated from here.]

Lauksósa

Onion sauce

This recipe for white onion sauce with cooked onions comes from an old Icelandic cookbook from the 1940s. Certainly not high cuisine - but solid home cooking!


Ingredients

3 large onions
2 Tbsp margarine
2 Tbsp flour
400 ml milk
1 pinch of salt


Preparation

Peel the onion, halve it and cut it into (half) rings.

Then cook the onion rings in hot water.

Melt the margarine in a saucepan, stir in the flour to form a thick lump,...

...and then pour in the milk in small sips and stir immediately.

Finally, bring the sauce to the boil briefly.

Then add the cooked onion and season with a little salt.

The onion sauce is traditionally served with fish dishes.

We had the onion sauce with fish balls - very tasty! My youngest stayed at the table and ate until all the fish balls were gone!

[Translated from here.]

Kanína með sósu

Rabbit in sauce

In Iceland it was quite common for the rural population to keep a few rabbits on their farm for their own use. Nevertheless, rabbit meat never became widespread on a large scale in Iceland, probably because rabbit farming was relatively expensive here.

A German from Brandenburg who came to Iceland in 2007 to set up a rabbit farm here had to give up her company Kanína ehf at the end of 2016 for financial reasons. Although she was able to have between 60 and 90 rabbits from her farm slaughtered every month, the meat was served in top restaurants and sold in delicatessens, but unfortunately the sole proprietorship was ultimately not economically viable.

It's a shame - after all, white rabbit meat is relatively low in fat and extremely tasty!


Ingredients

1 rabbit ready to cook
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp pepper
3 carrots
1/4 celery bulb
1 stalk of leek
100 g butter
500 ml malt beer
300 ml water
250 ml sour cream
2 Tbsp potato flour
1 bunch of parsley


Preparation

Clean the rabbit and cut it into 6 pieces with a sharp knife: First carefully dislocate and cut off the hind legs, then separate the body under the ribs. Then separate the forelegs.

Salt and pepper the pieces.

Peel the carrots and the celery root and cut them into cubes as small as possible. Wash and clean the leek, halve it and cut it into rings.

Melt the butter in a large pan.

Add the rabbit meat to the pan with the vegetables and fry briefly on all sides.

Then add the root beer and water.

Put the lid on the pan and let the whole thing simmer over low heat for about 1.5 hours - it's important to keep checking whether there's enough water in the pan, otherwise keep adding a little more water!

Then remove the pieces of meat from the pan and keep them warm in the oven.

Bring the vegetables to the boil briefly in the liquid. Mix the potato flour in a glass with a little cold water and use it to thicken the sauce.

Stir in the sour cream.

Season the sauce with salt and pepper to taste.

Wash and chop the parsley and add it over the food.

Add the pieces of meat back into the sauce.

Serve with potatoes and fresh salad.

[Translated from here.]

Grænmetissalat

Vegetable salad

Okay, this vegetable salad probably won't be my husband's favorite dish in this lifetime. But I didn't think it was that bad, just something different - and I reduced the amount of celery in the recipe a little, so maybe my husband will like it better too!


Ingredients

2 carrots
1 stalk of celery
1 large potato
200 g pea pods
1 apple
2 tomatoes

2 Tbsp margarine
3 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp vinegar
1 Tbsp mustard
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
1 tsp sugar
200 g skyr
2 tsp chopped parsley


Preparation

Wash the vegetables, peel and chop the carrots, potatoes and celery.

Cook carrots, potatoes, celery and green peas in a large pot of salted water until the vegetables are soft. Then drain well and let cool.

Melt the margarine in a large pot. Add the flour and stir into a thick mixture. Remove the pot from the oven.

Then add the vinegar, mustard, egg yolk, salt, pepper and sugar and stir.

Finally add the skyr and mix thoroughly.

Wash and peel the apple and wash the tomatoes. Then cut both into small pieces.

Add the cooked vegetables and the apple and tomato pieces to the salad dressing and mix thoroughly.

Finally, wash the parsley, chop it finely and sprinkle it over the finished salad.

[Translated from here.]

Súkkulaðikaka með bönunum

Chocolate Banana Cake

This recipe for a chocolate banana cake actually convinced me spontaneously, we really liked the cake, so fluffy, light and creamy. You could definitely serve it warm for dessert...


Ingredients

150 g dark chocolate
100 g dark nut chocolate
1/2 organic oranges
240 g margarine
240 g brown sugar
3 ripe bananas
4 eggs
3 Tbsp flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon


Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a large pot, slowly melt the chocolate with the grated orange peel, the squeezed orange juice, the margarine and the sugar.

When a nice, uniform mixture has formed, remove the pot from the heat and let it cool down a bit.

Roughly mash the bananas with a fork and stir them into the chocolate mixture.

Then stir in the eggs.

Finally add flour, baking powder and cinnamon and work everything into a nice, smooth dough.

Pour the dough into a springform pan (24 cm)...

...and bake in the lower third of the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 40 minutes until the inside of the cake is nicely baked (test with a toothpick!).

Take the cake out of the oven, let it cool thoroughly and carefully remove it from the tin.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Pönnusteiktur fiskur með kryddjurtakartöflumús og bakað brokkóli

Fried fish with herb mashed potatoes and baked broccoli

I tried a slightly more elaborate meal - a mix of traditional Icelandic elements and a few modern touches.


Ingredients for 4 persons

For the fish

800 g cod fillet
1 tsp coarse salt
1 tsp olive oil
100 g butter
1 Tbsp lemon juice

For the herb mashed potatoes

100 g potatoes
100 g butter
150 g whipping cream
1 tsp chopped dill
1 tsp chopped parsley
1 tsp chopped chives
1 pinch of coarse sea salt

For the baked broccoli

1 head of broccoli
1 pinch of coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan
2 Tbsp almond flakes

For the sauce

50 g butter
1 bunch of spring onions
500 g whipping cream
1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 small green apple
1 Tbsp lemon juice
1 pinch of coarse sea salt


Preparation


It's best to start with the herb mashed potatoes...

Wash and peel the potatoes and boil them in salted water for about 20 minutes.

Remove the cooked potatoes from the water, drain well and mash them finely with a masher.

Add the butter and whipping cream...

...warm over low heat and stir in the chopped herbs.

Finally, season with salt to taste.


For the baked broccoli

Preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Wash the broccoli and cut into small flowers, put the florets in an ovenproof dish.

Season with the salt and pepper...

...sprinkle the olive oil over the florets...

...and top with the grated Parmesan and flaked almonds.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 20 to 30 minutes.


For the sauce ce

Melt the butter for the sauce in another pan.

Wash and clean the spring onions and cut them into small rings.

Sauté the onions in the butter.

Add the whipping cream and simmer over low heat for about 15 minutes.

Then wash and peel the apple and cut the core and pulp into small cubes.

Then add the chopped apple to the pan with the apple cider vinegar and lemon juice and let it simmer a little more.

Finally, season with a little salt and possibly some pepper.


Finally prepare the fish:

Cut the cod fillet into 4 pieces that are as large as possible and season with salt.

Heat a large pan on the stove over very high heat with the olive oil.

Add the fish pieces to the pan and fry them on one side for 3 minutes.

Add the butter to the hot pan, turn the fish pieces over and fry on the other side for another 3 minutes.

Finally pour the melted butter over the fish fillets.

Remove the fish from the pan and drizzle with the lemon juice.


Arrange

Spread the sauce on the plates (save a little leftover for the end!), place the herb mashed potatoes on top, carefully "flatten" it a little and then place the fried cod in the middle at the top. Spread the baked broccoli on the side, add the last little dollop of sauce on top of the fish and serve immediately.

Well then - bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]