Thursday, March 23, 2017

Rúllupylsa

Rolled sausage

This rolled sausage ( rúllupylsa ) is an ideal way to use less high-quality belly meat and other leftover meat, which is further processed into a kind of “rolled roast”.

Ingredients

1 kg lamb belly meat
3 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of black pepper
2 tsp chopped parsley
1 small onion
1.5 l meat broth

Thread or yarn for tying things together

Preparation

Cut the meat into strips/slices as thin as possible.

Peel the onion and chop it as small as possible and mix it with the salt, sugar, ground pepper and parsley...

...and spread it on the top of the pieces of meat.

Roll up tightly from the long side, like a large roulade, tie with thread (I used sausage twine, it's more robust, suitable for food and easy to find visually!)...

and let it simmer in a pot with the meat broth over low heat for at least 2 hours.

Remove from the broth...

...place it between two boards, put it in the fridge and weigh it down with something heavy.

Min. Cold press for 24 hours, then carefully remove the strings, cut the rúllupylsa into thin slices and serve on bread.

(Actually, you should be able to see the rolled structure of the pieces of meat better when cut, but somehow I didn't get it perfect with my piece of lamb belly. But that doesn't detract from the taste!)

Bought Rúllupylsa from the butcher looks a bit more elegant... ;-)

I photographed this rolled sausage in front of a typical Icelandic backdrop - with the "Cave People" of the "Laugarvatnshellar". It was just great!

[Translated from here.]

Tuesday, March 21, 2017

Blogevent Smurálegg

A week all about spreads

Sausage and cheese have only recently found their way into Icelandic cuisine.

Liver sausage - here warm and fried

In the past, Icelanders mainly ate black pudding ( Blóðmör ) and liver sausage ( Lifrapylsa ), also liver pâté, which was an ideal way to use leftovers, so you could use practically everything from the sheep after slaughter. There was also rolled sausage ( rúllupylsa ), in which less good belly meat and other leftover meat were processed into a kind of "rolled roast".

Cheese has long been in Iceland - well, perhaps a little neglected. In recent years, however, there have been some small, very ambitious cheese producers in Iceland and you can increasingly find exciting Icelandic cheeses, such as the classic " Gullosta " (= "Golden Cheese"), a type of Camembert, then different types of blue cheese, various Hard cheese...

Selection of specialties at Ostabúðin in Skólavörðustígur in Reykjavík

Incidentally, Icelandic cheeses are predominantly made from cow's milk. The special taste of the cheese is attributed to the fact that Icelandic cows are fed almost exclusively on grass.

Cow over Akureyri

A relatively common spread was also...

... cabbage roe butter.

Berjahlaup

Jam, such as blueberry jam, berry jelly ( berjahlaup ) or various tomato jams, is usually eaten in Iceland on a piece of buttered bread with a slice of cheese on top.

Tomato jam with cinnamon and lime

I already have a few recipes for typical Icelandic spreads in the blog, and I would like to introduce a few others here to you later this week - here is an overview of some typical Icelandic spreads and toppings:

Liver sausage (Lifrapylsa)
Rolled sausage (Rúllupylsa)
Mýsingur (whey cheese)
Berry jelly (Berjahlaup)
Tomato jam with cinnamon and lime
Roe butter

[Translated from here.]

Monday, March 13, 2017

Bláberjabaka

Blueberry cake

My colleagues gave me a new, large baking pan for my birthday - which I immediately inaugurated with this recipe for Bláberjabaka.

By the way, the recipe is suitable for both fresh and frozen blueberries.

Ingredients

100 g margarine
240 g brown sugar
2 eggs
340 g flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp coarse sea salt
180 g milk
240 g blueberries

180 g brown sugar
100 g flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 pinch of ground vanilla
100 g margarine

Preparation

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

Mix the margarine with the sugar and eggs until foamy.

Add flour, baking powder and salt and whisk together.

Then pour in the milk and knead everything into a dough that is as smooth as possible.

Finally, carefully fold in the blueberries...

...put the dough into a baking pan (approx. 25 x 35 cm) lined with baking paper and carefully smooth it out.

To make the streusel, knead the sugar with the flour, cinnamon, vanilla and margarine in a second bowl with your hands and distribute the streusel over the cake dough.

Bake the cake at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 45 minutes (a little longer?) until the sprinkles have turned nice and golden brown and a wooden stick no longer sticks to the dough when you pierce it.

It is best to serve the finished blueberry cake lukewarm with freshly whipped cream.

[Translated from here.]

Saturday, March 11, 2017

Súkkulaðikúlur

Chocolate balls

Ingredients

60 g butter
60 g brown sugar
80 g ground almonds
2 tsp baking cocoa

some baking cocoa / coffee spice or cinnamon for dusting, if desired

Preparation

Place all ingredients in a large bowl and whisk thoroughly until smooth.

Chill the mixture briefly so that it becomes a little firmer.

Form small balls out of the dough with slightly moistened hands and roll them in a little cocoa powder to taste. Let it solidify well in the fridge.

Then serve the chocolate balls well chilled.

[Translated from here.]

Saturday, March 4, 2017

Kanelterta

Cinnamon cake

I love cinnamon in practically every situation - so for my birthday this year I baked myself this Icelandic cinnamon cream cake with chocolate icing!

Ingredients

1 egg
180 g brown sugar
180 g soft margarine
180 g flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder

250 ml whipping cream
1 Tbsp sugar

100 g dark chocolate
1 Tbsp margarine

50 g walnuts (chopped or ground)

Preparation

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

Mix the egg with the brown sugar until foamy, then add the margarine and beat vigorously.

Add the flour, cinnamon and baking powder and mix everything into a smooth dough.

Put 2 tablespoons of the dough into a springform pan (approx. 22 cm in diameter) lined with baking paper and smooth it out...

...and bake in the preheated oven at 350 °F (180 °C) upper and lower heat for about 8 minutes each.

Remove the dough directly from the mold so that it doesn't crumble later.

The dough is enough for 5 bases.

When the bases are ready, whip the cream until stiff and mix with the tablespoon of sugar.

Place the first layer on a cake plate, spread with the cream mixture,...

...put the next floor on and continue like this. Finish with a bottom.

Melt the chocolate and margarine in a water bath...

...stir until everything is evenly mixed and spread the top cake layer with the chocolate cream.

Then decorate directly with the walnuts and let it solidify in the fridge.

Well then - bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Friday, March 3, 2017

Skonsuterta (II)

Sweet Skonsur cake

In addition to the hearty Skonsur cakes with fillings of egg, ham or crab salad, the sweet version is also quite popular in Iceland - with cream, jam and fruit.

For the sweet version, simply add whipped cream, jam and/or fruit between the individual skonsur and layer them on top of each other according to your taste and preference.

Ingredients

720 g flour
120 g sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 pinch of salt
2 eggs
600 ml lukewarm milk
3 Tbsp rapeseed oil

350 ml whipping cream
3 Tbsp sugar
Jam and/or berries
(to taste)

Preparation

Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl, then first add the eggs, then the milk, and finally stir in the rapeseed oil and work everything into a smooth dough.

Carefully flatten 1 to 2 tablespoons of dough in an ungreased pancake pan and press it into as round a shape as possible and fry until golden brown on both sides over low heat.