Saft-ís

Juice ice cream

The recipe here comes from my old Icelandic cookbook from 1945 - and you can see the stocks that were naturally used back then. The strawberry ice cream here is not made with fresh strawberries, but with strawberry jam and red fruit juice.

Oh, juice is usually called "safi" in Icelandic, but if you really specifically mean fruit juice, it's also "saft" in Icelandic.


Ingredients

300 g whipping cream
200 g vanilla skyr
2 Tbsp sugar
250 g strawberry jam
50 g red fruit juice


Preparation

The cream is first whipped until stiff.

Then the vanilla skyr, sugar, strawberry jam and red juice are added...

...and mix everything together until you get a nice, even mixture.

Then pour the mixture into a king cake tin lined with cling film and let it freeze in the freezer.

Then remove it from the mold and cut it into slices.

Then serve the ice cream with whipped cream and fresh strawberries to taste.

[Translated from here.]

Bakaður hafragrautur

Baked porridge

Actually, I got to know this dish as a "Sunday breakfast for the whole family", according to the motto "everyone finally likes oat flakes" - after all, hafragrautur (= porridge) is a very common breakfast for Icelanders, especially for Icelandic children. I can't just eat this for breakfast though!


Ingredients

1 Tbsp butter for greasing the mold
200 g oat flakes
150 g wholemeal flour
75 g ground walnuts
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
100 ml light syrup
1 egg
3 Tbsp rapeseed oil
250 g blueberries

At will:

Ice cream, yogurt, skyr or cream for serving


Preparation

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

Grease the mold with butter.

Wash the blueberries, clean if necessary and put them in the baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix the oat flakes with the flour, baking powder, ground walnuts, cinnamon and salt.

Now add the syrup, egg and oil...

...and knead into crumbles.

Cover the blueberries in the mold with the sprinkles...

...and bake in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 30 minutes until the crumbles have turned nice and golden brown.

Then remove from the oven and serve warm with ice cream, yoghurt, Skyr or whipped cream or similar.

We had extra blueberry Skyr ice cream with it!

[Translated from here.]

Snúðar

Rolls with glaze

In Iceland, Mother's Day is also celebrated on the 2nd Sunday in May, or as it is called in Icelandic, Mother's Day ("mæðradagur"). With that in mind, if you want, I wish you all a happy Mother's Day! Gleðilegan mæðradag!

I baked ours - a big batch of cinnamon rolls. My children eat them in pretty much all situations. And the rolls can easily be prepared the day before, so that I have “free” on Mother’s Day and can enjoy the day in peace.


Ingredients

400 ml water
700 g flour
80 g sugar
80 g margarine
1 tsp salt
20 g yeast

filling

100 g sugar
2 Tbsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cardamom

glaze

300 g powdered sugar
3 Tbsp lemon juice
3 Tbsp water

2 Tbsp cocoa


Preparation

Put all the ingredients for the dough into a large mixing bowl and knead thoroughly.

Then shape the dough into a large ball and let it rise, covered, for about 1 hour.

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

Knead the dough again, if in doubt add a little more flour so that the dough is no longer sticky.

Then divide the dough into three portions.

For the filling, mix the sugar with the cinnamon and cardamom.

Roll out each portion individually on a work surface lined with baking paper or floured (approx. 20 x 40 cm).

Sprinkle each with a third of the sugar-cinnamon mixture...

...and then roll it up over the long side.

Cut into slices approx. 1.5 cm thick.

Place on a tray lined with baking paper and bake in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 15 minutes until the rolls have turned golden brown.

Then let the cinnamon rolls cool down a bit.

For the glaze, mix the powdered sugar with the lemon juice and water until you have a nice, uniform mixture.

Spread about half of the cinnamon rolls with half of the icing.

Then stir 2 tablespoons of cocoa into the remaining glaze, add a tablespoon of lemon juice to give it a nice consistency again.

Then brush the remaining cinnamon rolls with the cocoa glaze.

Let the glaze set a little and then serve the cinnamon rolls.

With this in mind - Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and, of course, to all people who are or were children! And enjoy your meal!

[Translated from here.]

Rabarbarapæ

Rhubarb pie

Whether you call the dessert a "pie" (Icelandic onomatopoeically called "pæ") or a pastry, cake or crumble is ultimately secondary - the main thing is that it tastes really delicious. And I think it does! It's best served a little warm with vanilla sauce and ice cream...

This recipe is also really easy and uncomplicated to prepare.


Ingredients

500 g rhubarb
2 Tbsp potato flour
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon

350 g flour
90 g coconut flakes
100 g brown sugar
150 g margarine


Preparation

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

Wash and clean the rhubarb and cut it into slices approx. 0.5 cm thick.

Place in the bottom of an ovenproof baking dish.

Sprinkle with the potato flour, sugar and cinnamon.

In a bowl, knead the flour with the coconut flakes, sugar and margarine to form thick crumbles.

Spread the streusel over the rhubarb mixture.

Then bake in the middle of the oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 20 minutes.

Then let the finished pastry cool briefly and then serve it warm with vanilla ice cream.

[Translated from here.]

Tröllasúrugrautur

Rhubarb porridge

Over the course of my life, I have become an avowed rhubarb fan. This is very fitting, as rhubarb has long been an essential part of Icelandic cuisine since its introduction to Iceland around 1880. The recipe here is from the 1940s, when rhubarb was still called "tröllasúra" in Icelandic and not "rabarbari".


Ingredients for 4 servings

750 ml water
500 g rhubarb sticks
50 g potato flour
60 g brown sugar
1 Tbsp ground cinnamon
1 pinch of ground vanilla


Preparation

Wash, peel and clean the rhubarb and cut into pieces.

Then put the rhubarb in a large pot with the cinnamon and vanilla, ...

...pour the water over it and let it cook until the rhubarb is soft and falling apart.

Remove approx. 50 ml of liquid and allow to cool thoroughly.

Puree the rhubarb thoroughly.

Mix the potato flour with the removed cold liquid.

Bring the pureed rhubarb to the boil again in the pot, when it starts to bubble, add the dissolved potato flour while stirring constantly...

...and let it simmer for a few more minutes.

Add the sugar and mix everything well.

Then put the rhubarb groats into bowls, sprinkle with a little sugar and serve with milk, cream or curdled milk.

We had vanilla thick milk with it.

[Translated from here.]

Rabarbari i eldhúsinu

Rhubarb in the kitchen

In Icelandic, rhubarb is traditionally called "tröllasúra", but now it is usually found spelled "rabarbari", sometimes also "rabbarbari".

Rhubarb season from June to September

In Iceland, the rhubarb season usually begins at the beginning of June and actually lasts the entire summer.

In Icelandic cuisine, rhubarb stalks are often used in jams, soups, sauces, baking and desserts.

The picture here was taken in mid-September, in the Icelandic Westfjords - a beautifully sunny evening by the fjord, and two young restaurant employees were sitting outside the restaurant in the evening sun, chopping large amounts of rhubarb. Wonderful - work should be fun!

Rhubarb sales in summer near Akureyri

Staple rhubarb jam

By the way, in Iceland we know rabarbaramauk , rabarbarahlaup and rabarbarasulta .

“Mauk” means “porridge”, “fruit pulp” or “jam”. "Hlaup" means "run", and with rhubarb one would speak of "jelly". And there is also "sulta", which means something like "jam" or "jam". Incidentally, in Iceland, Rabarbarasulta is not only eaten as jam on bread or cheese bread, but is also the classic Icelandic side dish for what feels like all meat dishes - basically "ketchup in Icelandic".

Rhubarb has only been around in Iceland since around 1880

Although rhubarb has (perhaps) been an essential part of everyday Icelandic cuisine for a long time, it has actually not been around on the island for that long:

Rhubarb actually comes from the region of China and Tibet. In the 16th century it spread to Russia and via Siberia it came to Denmark around 1700. In the 18th century it spread across Europe, around 1840 rhubarb came to Norway and only around 1880 to Iceland.

Icelandic rhubarb recipes

There was no rhubarb in the old Icelandic cookbook from 1891 that I found online, but the "matreiðslubók" from 1945 that I bought at the flea market in Reykjavík already contains over 15 different rhubarb dishes - soups, juices , jam, cake and wine.

In the near future I would like to introduce you to a few typical rhubarb dishes here in the blog, including:

- Rabarbarasulta (rhubarb jam).
- Rabarbarasúpa (rhubarb foam soup),
- Rabarbarakaka með marsipani (rhubarb cake with marzipan),
- Rabarbarakaka með rifnu rúgbrauði (rhubarb cake with plucked pumpernickel),
- Rabarbaraterta með möndlumarengs (rhubarb meringue cake),
- Beinlausir fuglar (Icelandic roulades with rhubarb jam in the sauce),

- Rabarbara-Hvannasalt (rhubarb-angelica salt).

And a few new recipes will certainly be added in the near future!

Be careful - rhubarb only in moderation

Rhubarb contains a relatively high amount of oxalic acid, which can affect kidney function, and high rhubarb consumption can also damage tooth enamel. Too much of a good thing would also be wrong. But usually the rhubarb season is not that long...





[Translated from here.]