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Carnival in Icelandic

There is also carnival in Iceland. With lots of sweet donuts and cream puffs, thick pea soup with salted meat on Shrove Tuesday and children dressed up in wild costumes on Ash Wednesday - when Lent begins.

If you want to get through the carnival season with Icelandic culinary delights, you will find lots of recipes for Rose Monday balls (" bolludagsbollur ") here on the blog. On Tuesday you can then eat " saltköt og baunir " and start Lent full of vigor from Wednesday , you can, for example, follow my “Iceland diet”, do a “Skyr diet” or maybe even eat a predominantly vegan diet for 7 weeks - well, how about it?

Rose Monday

Rose Monday is “ bolludagur ,” or “ ball day ,” when you eat as many sweet donuts and cream puffs as you can.

Originally they were probably rolls that were chopped up and then prepared with milk and butter. This custom probably came to Iceland at the beginning of the 19th century due to Danish influences.

In the middle of the 19th century, these became "fasting dumplings", using the same dough as for sweet Christmas bread (with spices and raisins and, if desired, lemon peel/orange peel), which was then baked in small portions on the hotplate rubbed with butter. Later, the raisins and the lemon peel/orange peel were left out and little rolls were baked, which were then spread with butter and jam.

You can find a recipe for classic bollur based on Jólabrauð dough here on the blog.

Then came the “balls” of yeast dough, which were then prepared more elaborately with lots of cream. You can of course also find the recipe for these gerbollur með hindberjarjómi (yeast dough balls with raspberry cream) here on the blog.

Nowadays it is mainly choux pastry that the “bolludagsbollur” is made from. There are no limits to your imagination, you can really let off steam!

You can also find various recipes for this "bollur" on choux pastry here on the blog, e.g. for small vatnsdeigsbollur simply with cream and jam, or for more elaborate versions such as vatnsdeigsbollur með karamellufyllingu (= choux pastry balls with caramel filling) or here this version of choux pastry with a filling of strawberry cream with almonds, jam and lots of chocolate.

Vatnsdeigsbollur

Vatnsdeigsbollur með karamellufyllingu

My Bolludagsbollur 2021

Shrove Tuesday

And if you haven't burst on Monday, you can continue eating on Shrove Tuesday. Carnival Tuesday is called “Sprengidagur” in Icelandic, meaning “Demolition Day”. It's about "eating until you burst." There is evidence that it was already customary in Iceland at the beginning of the 18th century to celebrate the "Night of the Great Feast" on this day before the Christian Lent until Easter began.

Traditionally, mainly meat was eaten on Shrove Tuesday, especially hangikjöt, i.e. smoked lamb, because meat was no longer eaten during Lent. And it would be a shame not to eat everything first so that nothing goes to waste!

By the end of the 19th century at the latest, smoked lamb was no longer eaten, but rather salted meat, i.e. fresh meat that was preserved by salting.

Saltkjöt og baunir, i.e. thick pea soup with salted meat, has been considered a classic dish in Iceland since then.

Ash Wednesday

Everything is still not over on Ash Wednesday (“öskudagur”).

The traditional "children's holiday" in schools in Iceland used to be Rose Monday, where children dressed up, paraded around town and played practical jokes. However, until the beginning of the 20th century, this custom increasingly shifted to Ash Wednesday.

So if you see children dressed up in wild costumes on Ash Wednesday in Iceland - don't be surprised, that's part of it!

Lent

Then Lent begins, the “langafasta”. Traditionally, this was a time of inner contemplation; people did not eat meat until Easter, and some also fasted on fish and/or milk and dairy products.

Here on the blog in 2018 I presented my “Iceland Diet” with a weekly plan for Lent. It was about a long-term diet that is intended to lower blood fat and blood sugar levels as much as possible and to counteract cardiovascular diseases, obesity and diabetes in the long term.

In 2020 I had a Skyr diet for Lent on the blog, as conscious and high in protein as possible. You can of course also find the corresponding recipes here on the blog.

Last year in 2022, I focused on vegan dishes during Lent, i.e. either classic dishes that have always been vegan (such as many cinnamon rolls, Flatbrauð or this green pearl barley salad , which my youngest loves dearly). ..

... or classic Icelandic dishes that have been “veganized”. These vegan Sörur here, for example, are relatively easy to prepare - and I think they taste simply brilliant! And not just me!

So you see - a lot of material to let off steam to your heart's content, if you want! Have fun with it! But for now, of course, have fun at Carnival!

[Translated from here.]

Skyrtrufflur

Skyr Truffles

If you want to quickly prepare a little culinary surprise for a chocolate lover, you can prepare these skyr chocolate truffles - very uncomplicated, fast and tasting intensely chocolatey!

By the way, you can also vary this recipe according to your taste and, for example, replace the nut-nougat-spread by peanut butter or similar. Mayby, not really Icelandic, but certainly it tastes delicious, too! 

Ingredients

100 g dark chocolate

1 Tbsp nut-nougat-spread

100 ml vanilla skyr

1 pinch of ground vanilla

1 Tbsp baking cocoa

Preparation

Slowly melt the chocolate in a water bath. 

Put the hazelnut and nougat spread in the melted hot chocolate, wait about a minute and then mix well. 

Put the vanilla skyr in a bowl, add the chocolate mixture and the ground vanilla and mix thoroughly.

To cool, place in the refrigerator for about half an hour.

From the cold mass, form small balls with a teaspoon and roll them in the cocoa powder.

The recipe be sufficient for about 14 to 15 skyr truffles. 

In a closed box, the skyr truffles keep in the fridge for several days - if you have not already eaten them on the first day! 

[Translated from here.]

Sólskin

Sunshine

This dish used to be a classic summer dish in Iceland - sorrel or fresh spinach in white sauce. Traditionally it is served with fish, either cooked fresh or salted fish, but it also goes well with smoked fish or fish balls.

In winter, you use fresh kale for this “sunshine” dish to at least bring a little “sunshine” into your home from a culinary point of view. With the current winter in Iceland, where one winter storm follows the next, it is urgently needed if you ask me..!

Ingredients for 2 servings

300 g fresh kale

1 Tbsp butter

2 Tbsp flour

200 ml milk

1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

1/2 tsp ground pepper

1 - 2 Tbsp sugar

Preparation

Clean the kale thoroughly with cold and hot water and remove the stalk.

Then place the kale in a large pot of boiling salted water and cook for about 5 minutes.

Then chop the cooked kale into small pieces.

Melt the butter in a second pot and mix it with the flour.

Then stir in the milk in portions until you have a nice, creamy sauce.

Season the white sauce with salt, pepper and sugar to taste.

Add the chopped kale to the sauce...

...and mix everything well.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Súkkulaðibollakökur með bismark-kremi

Chocolate muffins with peppermint cream

Bismarck has also left its mark on Icelandic cuisine, although not in the form of marinated herring (Bismarck herring), but in the form of white-red peppermint candies (Bismark).

These peppermint candies are often used in Icelandic cuisine, whether as a crunch on a milkshake or on a cake.

Here I used cream chocolate with a piece of Bismark peppermint candies as a special touch in the buttercream for these chocolate muffins. However, we also snacked on a few pieces of chocolate, it was just too delicious and tasted really interesting in the best sense of the word!

Ingredients

150 g peppermint chocolate

100 ml cream

100 ml rapeseed oil

2 eggs

150 ml concentrated milk

200 g brown sugar

170 g flour

50 g baking cocoa

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

250 g butter

400 g powdered sugar

Preparation

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

Melt the chocolate with the cream in a small saucepan and then let it cool again.

While the mixture cools, prepare the muffins:

In a large bowl, stir the oil, eggs and curdled milk until frothy.

Add the brown sugar, flour, baking cocoa and baking powder, baking soda and salt and mix into a smooth dough.

Pour the dough into muffin tins...

...and bake in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for approx. 15 - 20 minutes until the muffins are baked through (test with a stick!).

Then let the muffins cool, then prepare the buttercream:

Place the butter and powdered sugar in a tall container and stir until fluffy.

Add the chocolate-cream mixture to the butter-icing sugar mixture and beat everything well.

Then use a piping tip to pour the mixture onto the cooled muffins.

Then chill the muffins with the butter cream in the refrigerator for at least an hour so that the cream sets.

Just for fun, I only prepared half of the cream with the Bismark chocolate mixture and used cream with white chocolate with mango pieces for the other half of the cream, just for looks - and in case not all children were enthusiastic about peppermint.

But the Bismark cream was actually really well received!

The muffins with the buttercream are quite filling - but very tasty!

[Translated from here.]

Blómkáls- og kartöflugratín

Cauliflower and potato gratin

This dish is actually a typical late summer dish in Iceland, when the cauliflower is harvested in Iceland. The gratin is usually served as a meat-free dish with a nice fresh salad, but it also goes well as a side dish with meat or fish dishes.

We had very mundane schnitzel with it - i.e. "pönnusteik" or "snitsel", as it is also called in Icelandic.

Ingredients for 4 persons

1 kg potatoes

1 - 2 small cauliflower heads

300 ml milk

2 Tbsp butter

150 g grated cheddar

1 pinch of black pepper

coarse sea salt

4 Tbsp grated mozzarella

Preparation

Peel the potatoes, cut them into large pieces and cook them in lightly salted water until soft.

Then drain the water and mash the potatoes until small.

Clean the cauliflower, cut it into small pieces and cook it in lightly salted water until soft.

Warm the milk and butter in a small saucepan.

Add the grated cheddar cheese to the warm milk and let it melt, then mix with the mashed potatoes.

Roughly mash the soft-boiled cauliflower.

Mix the potato-milk mixture with the mashed soft cauliflower, add half of the grated mozzarella and some black pepper and put everything in a greased baking dish.

Depending on the type of cheese, you can add a little salt to the mixture if the grated cheese used is not that spicy.

Sprinkle the mixture with the remaining mozzarella and bake in a preheated oven at 400 °F (200 °C) for about 20 minutes until the surface is golden brown.

Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]