Ýsa í appelsínusósu

Haddock in orange sauce

Haddock is a fish typically found in Icelandic cuisine. Oranges and lemons, on the other hand, are imported and have not been available in Iceland for very long - so this dish lives from this "tension" between classic cuisine and modern influences. By the way, it doesn't require any salt, pepper or other spices and still doesn't taste a bit bland!


Ingredients for 2 people

1 kg fresh orange juice
1 lemon
1/4 tsp fresh ginger
4 haddock fillets, each 120 g
1 Tbsp potato flour
2 Tbsp water


Preparation

Peel an orange and cut the pieces into fairly small pieces, squeeze out the remaining oranges and lemons. Peel the ginger and grate it finely.

Add the orange juice, lemon juice and grated ginger to a large pan, stir well and heat until boiling.

Then cut the fish fillets into approx. 3 pieces...

...and add it to the boiling liquid and simmer at a slightly reduced heat for about 5 minutes.

Then carefully remove the fish from the pan and keep it warm.

Mix the potato flour with 2 tablespoons of water in a small glass and use it to thicken the orange sauce.

Then put the fish back in the sauce and serve with potatoes or rice - we had the classic Bankabygg, i.e. pearl barley!

[Translated from here.]

Bygotto með gulrótum og skyri

Pearl barley risotto with carrots and skyr

Now in autumn, when it's cold and dreary and gray outside, I just love to add a lot of color to my plate, like here with this pearl barley risotto with carrots and skyr. Wonderfully soft and "sloppy" and delicious - for me the perfect soul food on such a wet and cold November day!


Ingredients

300 g carrots
1 tsp water
2 tsp brown sugar
1 organic orange

1 Tbsp rapeseed oil
1 small onion
100 g barley pearls
400 ml vegetable broth
120 g spicy cheese
2 Tbsp vanilla skyr
salt and pepper

1 bunch of fresh parsley


Preparation

Wash the carrots, peel them, cut them into pieces and cook them in hot water for about 15 minutes until soft.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a large pan.

Peel the onion, chop it finely and fry it in the oil until translucent.

Add the barley pearls to the pan and fry briefly.

Then add half of the vegetable broth and cook the barley pearls in it for about 20 minutes. If necessary, add more vegetable broth so that the pearl barley is always well covered with liquid.

Then heat some water with the brown sugar in a second pan.

Wash the organic orange and grate the peel over the water-sugar mixture.

Squeeze out the juice and set aside.

Remove the soft-boiled carrots from the saucepan and add them to the pan and brown them all over for a few minutes.

Then put the carrots in the blender, puree them carefully and then mix them with the vanilla Skyr and the squeezed orange juice.

Grate the cheese.

When the pearl barley is almost soft, add the remaining vegetable broth and the cheese (careful: set aside 2 tablespoons of grated cheese for serving!) and stir.

Now add the carrot-skyr-orange juice mixture to the pearl barley,...

...stir in and simmer for another 5 to 10 minutes until the pearl barley is really soft.

Now season with salt and pepper to taste.

Finally, place the Bygotto on the plates, sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and fresh parsley and then serve immediately.

Nutritional information per serving:

approx. 670 kcal
approx. 27 g fat
approx. 67g carbohydrates
approx. 30 g protein

[Translated from here.]

Íslensk súkkulaðikaka

Icelandic chocolate cake

This is a very Icelandic recipe - but it received a mixed, not to say rather cautious, response from my family. My middle son found the relatively soft consistency "strange", my husband said "well, it's okay" - and I'm desperate because the cake was very crumbly when I cut it. (When it was well cooled, the cake was easier to cut and my son liked it better - but my husband didn't.)

On the other hand - it's a very Icelandic recipe, so I don't want to ignore it without comment, this dish doesn't deserve that. Well - a bit difficult this time...


Ingredients

260 g sugar
160 g water
250 g butter
400 g dark chocolate
4 eggs
40 g flour
50 g chopped nuts


Preparation

Heat the water and sugar in a large pot.

Add the butter and let it melt slowly.

Then chop up the chocolate, add it to the pot and let it melt.

Then remove the pot from the heat and beat the mixture with a hand mixer or something similar until it is nice and foamy.

Add the eggs, flour and chopped nuts and stir vigorously.

Then put the dough in a springform pan lined with baking paper (approx. 26 cm) and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 35 minutes.

Then let it cool down a bit and then serve warm

[Translated from here.]

Súkkulaðikaka með poppkorn-súkkulaðifyllingu

Chocolate cake with popcorn chocolate icing

I baked this cake last week for my youngest's birthday, he was already 9 years old! However, he's not a big cake fan, so I thought I'd try a chocolate popcorn cake, that sounds pretty crazy! (He also voluntarily ate a piece of it, which means something to him!)


Ingredients

100 g butter
2 eggs
180 g brown sugar
60 g flour
2 Tbsp ground nuts
1 Tbsp ground vanilla
2 Tbsp cocoa

200 g milk chocolate
2 Tbsp butter
3 Tbsp popcorn
50 g dark chocolate


Preparation

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

Let the butter melt.

Mix the eggs and sugar until foamy.

Then add the flour, ground nuts, vanilla, cocoa and melted butter...

...and work everything into a smooth dough.

Line a springform pan (approx. 24 cm) with baking paper, pour the dough into it and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 30 minutes.

Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool thoroughly.

For the icing, slowly melt the milk chocolate and butter in a larger saucepan over low heat.

Add the popcorn, stir...

...and spread everything on the cake.

Let the dark chocolate melt in a water bath and then carefully sprinkle it over the cake.

Let the cake set well in the fridge and then serve.

[Translated from here.]

Hrossagúllas

Horse goulasch

What do you actually think about horse meat?

Horse meat is relatively common in Northern Iceland in particular, but you can also get it in supermarkets in Reykjavík.

Horse meat is considered healthy (because it is low in fat and rich in iron). When processing horse meat, however, the age of the slaughtered animal is very important - the younger the animal, the softer the meat. With older animals, you have to remember that the meat has to be cooked much longer to become soft than common types of meat such as beef, pork or poultry. The horse meat that I bought in Iceland obviously came from older animals, in any case it took a good 3 hours until it finally became soft.


Ingredients

500 g horse meat
2 Tbsp butter
1 pinch of coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
330 ml malt beer
250 ml cream


Preparation

Slowly heat the butter in a large pot.

Cut the horse meat into cubes approx. 1.5 - 2 cm in size.

Briefly fry the diced horse meat on all sides over high heat.

Then reduce the heat and season the meat with salt and pepper.

Pour in the malt beer and simmer over low heat for about 3 hours until the meat is tender.

Pour the cream into the pan and simmer over low heat until the sauce thickens nicely.

Season a little with salt and pepper to taste and serve with potatoes.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Ostakúlur

Cheese balls

This recipe is very suitable for using up leftovers. You can still use leftover cheese that has hardened - but you should put it in water and soak it a little before using it to make the cheese balls, at least that's what my old Icelandic cookbook tells you.


Ingredients

700 g potatoes
350 g cheese
100 g eggs
Salt
pepper

Oil for the pan


Preparation

Boil the potatoes, then peel and chop the softly cooked potatoes.

Grate the cheese.

Then put the ingredients together with the eggs and spices in a large bowl...

...and work everything into a nice, smooth dough.

Then form small balls out of the mixture.

Heat some oil in a pan and then fry the cheese balls until golden brown on all sides.

The cheese balls can be served warm or cold with a hearty meal, or as a side dish with meat dishes.

[Translated from here.]