Rúnstykki

Icelandic rolls

Ingredients for 6 rolls

200 g ground flour
180 g wholemeal flour
1 pack of dry yeast
1 tsp salt
300 ml sour milk
50 g melted margarine

Flour for kneading


Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the wheat flour with the wholemeal flour, dry yeast and salt.

Add the sour milk and melted margarine...

...and knead everything thoroughly.

Cover and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes.

Then knead the dough again, adding flour as necessary until the dough no longer sticks to your hands.

Then form the rolls with your hands, cover them and let them rise again for about 20 - 30 minutes until the rolls have risen nicely. (I like to let my yeast dough rise in the oven at around 125 °F (50 °C) upper/lower heat, so everything rises nice and quickly.)

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

Bake the rolls in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) for about half an hour until the rolls are golden brown.

The rolls turned out nice and fluffy and extremely tasty!

[Translated from here.]

Skyrmús með hvítu súkkulaði og lakkríshafrakrumpli

Skyrmus with white chocolate and crunchy licorice oatmeal muesli

This dessert with its somewhat unexpected mix of very traditional Icelandic ingredients (Skyr! Oats!) and newer influences (white chocolate and especially licorice!!) as well as the somewhat unusual way of preparation is really very typical of modern Icelandic cuisine. And it tastes really, really good!


Ingredients for 4 persons


80 g hearty oat flakes
3 Tbsp honey
2 tsp sweet licorice syrup
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking cocoa
2 tsp fine licorice powder, if available

350 g vanilla skyr
200 ml whipping cream
2 Tbsp powdered sugar
1 pinch of ground vanilla
120 g white chocolate

200 g fresh blueberries


Preparation

First prepare the licorice oat meal muesli:

Preheat the oven to 275 °F (140 °C) upper/lower heat.

In a bowl, thoroughly mix the oat flakes with the honey, licorice syrup, cinnamon and baking cocoa. For a more intense licorice taste, stir in fine licorice powder.

Line the baking tray with baking paper and spread the oat flakes mixture on it.

Then bake in the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes until everything is nice and crispy.

Take the baked mixture out of the oven, crumble it and then let it cool down well.

Then prepare the Skyrmús:

Break the chocolate into small pieces and let it melt in a water bath. Then let it cool for about an hour.

Mix the skyr thoroughly with the powdered sugar and vanilla.

Add the well-cooled but still liquid melted white chocolate, stirring constantly.

Whip the cream until stiff and carefully fold it into the skyr mixture, then chill the mixture in the refrigerator.

Before serving, wash and drain the blueberries and serve the Skyrmús with the licorice oatmeal muesli and the berries.

Verði þér að góðu - bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Hrútspungar með skyrsósu

Ram testicles with skyr sauce

Ingredients for 2 people

4 ram testicles
350 g pure Skyr
1 - 2 fresh onions
1 cucumber


Preparation

Cut the fresh ram's testicles into thin slices and briefly fry them on both sides in a hot pan without fat.

Wash the cucumber, peel it and carefully remove the seeds with a spoon. Then grate the cucumber finely.

Clean and chop the onion.

Stir the skyr with the grated cucumber and the finely chopped onions until smooth...

...and serve with the fried testicles.

PS: I didn't have any fresh ram's testicles at hand right now,

So I had to make do with fried smoked pork.

[Translated from here.]

Ástarpungar - ný útgáfa

Love balls - new version

When I suddenly came across two new types of Skyr here in the supermarket last weekend, they were of course allowed to come with me and I happily thought about what I could do with them. "Skyr with honey" in particular sounded interesting, even if I only know it from a few breakfast recipes in Iceland - more from the whole food corner, where I also like to go. I then decided on an alternative version of "Love Balls", without vanilla, but with honey skyr. I changed the ratio of flour to skyr a bit because the consistency of the dough otherwise didn't fit properly.

Classic Ástarpungar ("love balls" or "love balls") are prepared with regular skyr. In the supermarket, these “loveballs” are often advertised as a typical Icelandic specialty - which of course they are!


Ingredients for approx. 40 balls

2 eggs
240 g sugar
900 g flour
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cardamom
400 g honey skyr
100 g raisins

1 liter rapeseed oil for frying


Preparation

In a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until fluffy.

Add flour, baking powder, vanilla, cardamom and honey skyr, mix everything thoroughly and knead until you have a really smooth dough.

Finally add the raisins and knead them in.

Using your hands, form walnut-sized balls out of the dough.

Heat the oil in a high pot.

Then add the balls (depending on the size of the pot in batches of between 4 and 6 balls at a time) to the hot oil and fry for about 4 minutes, turning regularly so that the love balls become golden brown on all sides.

Then carefully remove the balls from the fat with a ladle and let them drain on kitchen paper.

`

Ástarpungar - love balls

[Translated from here.]

Birkisíróp

Birch syrup

Birch syrup is made from birch sap and sugar, possibly from birch leaves. In Iceland, birch syrup is traditionally eaten on waffles and pancakes and with desserts, but it is also used to sweeten drinks, tea and coffee and even to marinate meat and fish (but then together with fresh herbs).

From the ingredients to the preparation to the final product

Ingredients

2 liters of birch sap
50 g brown sugar
birch leaves, if available


Preparation

Put the birch sap with the sugar in a large pot and let it simmer until a thick syrup is formed.

If you like, you can add a few young, washed birch leaves to the juice while boiling it and fish the leaves out before pouring into a clean bottle that has been freshly rinsed with boiling water.

Attention - you only get around 150 ml of birch syrup from 2 liters of birch sap. So either boil down a large amount of birch sap straight away - or use it sparingly, as here as a sauce for Hvannarís (= angelica ice cream ).

Excursus

Birch sap - what is that anyway?!?

Birch and maple are the only tree species that grow in Iceland and can be used for syrup production. In late spring, when the ground is no longer frozen, you drill a hole in the trunk of the birch tree and use a hose to let the birch sap flow into appropriate collecting containers. On average, you can “tap” 3 to 4 liters of birch water in one day. The hole is then closed again with a plug. The tree then has to rest for a few years before it can be tapped again - but you can't do this all too often without damaging the tree.

Birch sap is rich in minerals and antioxidants. It affects the body's fluid balance and is said to counteract edema and also improve skin, hair and nails (this is probably where the view that birch sap has a rejuvenating effect and can even have an aphrodisiac effect comes from). For people with pollen allergies, it sometimes helps to drink birch sap to make the symptoms of hay fever more bearable.

For original Icelandic birch sap, you can, for example, contact the company "Holt og heiðar" ("Hills and Heath") based in Hallormstaðir near Egilsstaðir in East Iceland. The company was founded in 2010 by a gardener, a chef and his wife (the couple also runs a farm with a guesthouse and restaurant in Skagafjörður) and specializes in the production of typical local products (fresh and without additives).

They sell different types of rhubarb jam (also with vanilla or Icelandic moss), wild mushrooms (either frozen or dried) and various cones, for example from different types of pine and spruce, larch or pine cones, which are also offered specifically as Christmas decorations.

“Holt og heiðar” produces the birch sap or birch syrup from birch water, which is obtained from around 60 birch trees in the forest near Hallormstaðir. So not for mass production - rather small, but nice!

According to the homepage, the company's products are sold on the farm of the couple involved and in the shop in Egilsstaðir, but also in various visitor centers such as the Þingvellir National Park, the Skaftafell National Park or the visitor center at Geysir in Haukadalur as well as in the Viking Shops in Reykjavík and a shop for Icelandic specialties at the international airport in Keflavík, but you can also buy them quite mundanely in the supermarket, namely in the "Nettó" in Egilsstaðir and in the "Hagkaup" in the "Kringlan" shopping center in Reykjavík.  

Birch forest at Borgarfjörður

[Translated from here.]

Algjör gúrka

Awesome cucumber

Ingredients for 6 half cucumbers

3 country cucumbers
400 g cooked haddock
200 g pure Skyr
100 g grated cheese
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 pinch of pepper


Preparation

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

Wash the cucumbers thoroughly and cut them in half lengthwise. Then scrape out the seeds with a spoon.

In a large bowl, mix the cooked fish with the skyr and grated cheese. Add the thyme and season with the salt and pepper.

Then spread the filling with two teaspoons into the halved, seeded cucumbers.

Then bake the cucumbers in a preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 30 to 40 minutes, ...

...until the cheese has turned nice and golden brown.

[Translated from here.]

Blómkálsmjólkursúpa

Cauliflower milk soup

Ingredients for 6 people

2 heads of cauliflower
800 ml milk
500 ml water
3 Tbsp potato flour
400 ml sour milk
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp curry powder
1 pinch of nutmeg, if desired
2 Tbsp chopped parsley


Preparation

Wash and clean the cauliflower and remove the stalk.

Set aside about 100 ml of the milk in a glass. Bring the remaining milk and water to the boil in a large pot, then add the cauliflower florets to the boiling liquid and cook for about 5 minutes.

Then carefully puree the soup with the blender.

Mix the tablespoon of potato flour with approx. 100 ml of nice cold milk until smooth. Then add it to the soup, stirring constantly, and bring to the boil briefly.

Then season the soup with salt, pepper and curry powder. If you like, you can season with a little grated nutmeg.

Then pour the soup into the bowls, add a good splash of sour milk to each and sprinkle with the chopped parsley.

By the way, the nice warm soup with the cold sour milk tastes very good even on hot days!




[Translated from here.]