Rjúpa og sósa

Ptarmigan and sauce

A classic Icelandic Christmas food is ptarmigan (rjúpa). However, the animal population in Iceland is declining drastically, which is why ptarmigan hunting has been increasingly restricted, for example hunting is only allowed on certain days of the year and the number of animals per hunter is also limited. Hunting is only permitted for personal use; selling is prohibited.

However, you can now find ptarmigan from Great Britain frozen in Icelandic supermarkets - either breasts or whole birds. On average, a bird weighs just around 400 g.

Classic side dishes for the ptarmigan here with the sauce are potatoes, peas and cold red cabbage, but fresh salad, for example, also tastes good with it.

Ingredients for 4 servings

Ptarmigan breast (2 pieces per person)

1 tbsp butter

salt and pepper

1 small onion

500 ml cooking cream

100 ml vegetable broth

1/2 mushroom cheese / pepper cheese

2 Tbsp blue cheese

2 Tbsp blackcurrant jelly / rhubarb jam

salt and pepper


Preparation

Season the ptarmigan breasts with salt and pepper...

...and fry in melted butter in a pan for about 1 minute on each side.

Then put it in a fireproof dish, set it aside and then put it in a preheated oven (350 °F resp. 180 °C upper/lower heat) for 8 to 10 minutes just before serving.

To make the sauce, first chop the onion and let it become translucent in the butter in which the ptarmigan breasts were fried.

Add the cream, the vegetable stock and the finely chopped pepper cheese and let the sauce simmer slowly, stirring regularly.

Finally, chop up the blue cheese and add it.

Season the sauce with the jelly or jam and salt and pepper.

Then leave the sauce on the stove at a low temperature for a moment while you serve the rest of the food, and then serve.

[Translated from here.]