Canned peas for Christmas

Grænar baunir með uppstúf

A traditional Icelandic Christmas meal actually includes canned peas as a side dish (often eaten cold, as well as cold red cabbage). Typically accompanied by white sauce, roux, called "uppstúfur", "uppstúf" or "jafningur" in Icelandic.

By the way, I owe this recipe to Sabrina from Bite-Sized Iceland, where we took part in her Food Tour at the Old Harbour of Reykjavík in the summer. Sabrina is American and married to an Icelandic man for over 20 years. They initially lived in Denmark with their children for a long time, but for several years now they have been living in Iceland, near their Icelandic mother-in-law.

On her food tour, Sabrina told us, among other things, about the typical Icelandic Christmas meal and about a special specialty of her mother-in-law. Her mother-in-law always uses the liquid from the can of peas for the white sauce. “It sounds nasty, but it tastes incredibly delicious”, was Sabrina’s conclusion.

Of course I had to try it - I love Christmas, I love Christmas food, I love Icelandic food. So absolutely perfect for me! And after test-eating, I can only agree with Sabrina's conclusion - sounds nasty, but tastes incredibly delicious! The canned pea liquid gives the roux a wonderfully velvety taste!

By the way, did you know that statistically every Icelander eats two cans of canned peas at Christmas? With around 380,000 Icelanders, around 760,000 cans of these peas are sold here every Christmas!

Ingredients

2 Tbsp margarine

2 Tbsp flour

200 ml warm milk

2 cans of peas

1 tsp sugar

1 pinch of coarse sea salt

1 pinch of black pepper

1 pinch of nutmeg

Preparation

Melt the margarine in a large pot.

Add the flour and mix everything with the whisk until a thick lump is formed.

Pour in the milk in small portions and bring the whole thing to the boil, stirring constantly, until the sauce thickens nicely.

Open the cans of peas and pour the liquid into the sauce in portions and stir.

Season to taste with salt, pepper, sugar and a little nutmeg.

If you like, you can add the peas to the warm roux and heat them slowly, but you can also serve the peas cold with the warm sauce, warm potatoes and warm meat.

[Translated from here.]