Gulróta- og Bananakaka

Carrot and banana cake

It's slowly approaching the Christmas season... next Sunday is already the 1st Advent!

This recipe for a carrot-banana cake or perhaps a carrot-banana bread goes a bit in that autumnal-Christmas direction, as a gentle introduction. It tastes delicious, but isn't too sweet and reminds you a bit that it's called "banana bread", not "banana cake"... but even in Icelandic cuisine it doesn't always have to be a sugar shock!

Ingredients

250 g spelled flour

100 g brown cane sugar

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

3 bananas

3 carrots

80 g chopped chocolate

70 g chopped walnuts

100 g vanilla skyr

100 g melted butter

2 eggs

200 g cream cheese

120 g soft butter

160 g powdered sugar

1 pinch of ground vanilla

Powdered sugar for sprinkling

Preparation

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

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the sugar, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.

Peel the bananas and mash them into pulp.

Wash, peel and finely grate the carrots.

Add the grated carrots and banana puree to the bowl with the flour mixture.

Add the chopped chocolate, chopped walnuts, vanilla skyr, melted butter and eggs to the bowl...

....and mix everything into a nice dough.

Then put the dough into a greased king cake mold or lined with baking paper, smooth it out and bake in the preheated oven on the lowest shelf at 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat for approx. 50 to 60 minutes (test with a toothpick!).

Then let the cake cool thoroughly.

Then carefully remove the cold cake from the mold and cut it horizontally into three parts.

Mix the ingredients for the filling in a suitable container to form a smooth cream.

Then place the bottom part of the cake on a suitable cake plate or something similar, spread it with half of the cream and carefully place the second part of the cake on top.

Here again, spread the cake with the second half of the cream and place the top cake part on top.

Then sprinkle the cake with a little powdered sugar.

Let the cake sit in the fridge for at least 2 hours and serve slightly chilled.

By the way, this cake stays nice and fresh in the fridge for several days.

[Translated from here.]

Lambagúllas

Lamb goulash

At the moment I can't really get to cooking because of all the cookbooks (lugging boxes, unpacking 150 kg of books delivered from the printer, packing and sending orders), but at least I still have this recipe for a nice, warming lamb goulash for you!

Ingredients

1 Tbsp oil

1 tsp ground cumin

500 g lamb meat

1/2 onion

2 - 3 carrots

2 - 3 potatoes

300 ml vegetable broth

Preparation

Heat the oil in a pot.

Briefly fry the caraway seeds in it.

Meanwhile, dice the meat...

...and fry briefly on all sides in the pot.

Wash, peel and cut the carrots and potatoes into pieces.

Also peel and chop the onion.

Add the carrot and potato pieces and the chopped onions to the pot...

...pour the vegetable broth over it and simmer over medium heat for about 30 to 40 minutes.

Then add some more cooking cream and season with salt and pepper.

Let it boil down a bit to taste or thicken the sauce if you like.

Traditionally, lamb goulash is served with mashed potatoes or boiled potatoes.

I'll tell you more about the jólaöl , the Christmas beer, pictured here soon!

[Translated from here.]

Cozy afternoon in a cafe...

...with a hot licorice chocolate

We recently went to Reykjavík on a Saturday afternoon - took a trip into the city.

We wanted to meet up with a friend and took the opportunity to look for old cookbooks in the second-hand shop, take a quick trip to the sea, and then stroll through the city together and make ourselves comfortable in the café close.

By the way, the licorice hot chocolate was so delicious that I had to recreate it at home!

Here, after browsing in the second-hand shop, we took a short detour to Vesturbær, ended up parking at Hofsvallagata and walked a few steps along the sea. Oh yes, I love the air here by the sea!

From here you have a beautiful view over Álftanes and Bessastaðir, the seat of the Icelandic president.

In the background you can clearly see Mount Keilir, with its beautiful, striking cone shape.

And here's another view of Reykjavík's domestic airport - nice and small and manageable, right?!? We then parked here near the airport at the university and walked into the city, it's not that far here.

Because the weather was quite cold and damp, we went to a café on Laugavegur and warmed up with plenty of delicious drinks. The pumpkin spice frappó and the licorice hot chocolate were particularly delicious!

Afterwards we went back home...

And because the hot chocolate with licorice at the cafe in Reykjavík was so delicious, I tried to recreate a recipe for "heitt súkkulaði með lakkrís". Yes, it turned out delicious too!

Ingredients for 2 servings

400 ml milk

2 Tbsp sugar

150 g coarsely chopped chocolate

1 Tbsp licorice sprinkles

1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whipped cream and licorice sprinkles for decoration

Preparation

Put the milk with the sugar in a saucepan and heat, but do not let it boil.

Then turn off the stove, but leave the pot on the stove.

Add the chopped chocolate, licorice sprinkles and cinnamon and stir until you have a nice, uniform mixture.

Then pour the hot chocolate into suitable cups or glasses, decorate with whipped cream and licorice sprinkles and enjoy straight away.

[Translated from here.]

Prinsakonfekt

Prins Póló confectionery

"Prince Polo" chocolate bars come from Poland, but are very popular in Iceland and can be found in practically every supermarket and gas station in the country. There are also many recipes with these chocolate bars. (If you don't have any Prince Polo bars at hand, you can of course make do with other similar bars, such as KitKat.)

The sweet balls were very well received by my family! (I clearly need to make the balls again for Child3, and maybe we'll get a little more out of them then.)

Ingredients

6 Prins Póló each 35 g

10 g butter

200 g block chocolate

20 g whipping cream

100 g couverture

Coconut flakes, chopped nuts, brittle or similar for decoration

Preparation

Grind the biscuits thoroughly in a food processor or similar.

Melt the butter in a saucepan, chop up the chocolate blocks and let it slowly melt in the saucepan over medium heat.

Add the whipping cream and mix everything together.

Add the biscuit crumbs and mix everything into a uniform mixture.

Then let the mixture cool down for around 1 hour and let it solidify a little.

Use a teaspoon to separate the balls from the mixture and shape them into balls with slightly moistened hands.

Let the couverture melt in a water bath.

Then pull the biscuit balls through the chocolate coating, sprinkle them directly with the brittle or similar and then let them set.

Keep the confectionery well chilled, but remove it from the refrigerator about 15 to 30 minutes before serving.

[Translated from here.]

Lýsisfiskur

Fish with cod liver oil

This is a recipe for a typical Icelandic winter meal from the old days. Back then, the thick fish porridge was spread on bread as a topping, like liver sausage, for example.

Otherwise it is the perfect use of leftovers for fish, beets and Lýsi (Icelandic cod liver oil). You just have to be careful to use the cod liver oil sparingly and not to put too much of it on the fish.

My husband had certain reservations at first, he eats fish, but he really doesn't like cod liver oil. But in this combination it actually tasted “harmless” and delicious!

PS: Especially now in the dark season, I like cod liver oil with lots of vitamins A, D and omega-3 fatty acids. I always notice when I get cracked skin on my hands in the winter - when I start using Lýsi, everything quickly gets better again. But to be honest, I'd rather take Lýsi tablets than a spoonful of pure cod liver oil... but I can now use up the cod liver oil for this fish porridge over the winter!

Ingredients

250 g cooked fish
200 g cooked beets

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1 pinch of pepper

1 Tbsp cod liver oil

Icelandic rye bread

(alternatively: pumpernickel)
butter

fresh dill

Preparation

Place the cooked fish and beets in a blender with the salt, pepper and cod liver oil and puree everything thoroughly.

Spread the rye bread with the butter, put the fish and beet mixture on top, garnish with a little fresh dill and then serve the sandwiches as a cold starter.

[Translated from here.]