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.

The dough is enough for approx. 16 to 18 skonsur.

Beat the cream with the sugar until stiff.

Then first spread a skonsur with cream and jam / berries, ...

...then with the whipped cream, ...

...put the next skonsur on top...

...and spread again with jam/berries and cream,...

...then put on the third skonsur.

Then also spread and decorate the top Skonsur and serve the sweet Skonsur cake.

Verði þér að góðu! Bon appetit!

[Translated from here.]

Blaðlaukssúpa

Leek soup

I still had a few leeks lying around from my last vegetable box that really needed to go, so they went into this recipe for Icelandic leek soup.

Ingredients for 4 persons

500 g leek
2 Tbsp margarine
1 liter of meat broth
1 liter of milk
1 tsp coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper


Preparation

First wash and clean the leek and cut it into thin slices.

In a large pan over low heat, melt the margarine and let the leeks soften in the margarine for about 5 minutes, stirring constantly to prevent the leeks from browning.

Add the meat broth and let the whole thing simmer gently for about 20 minutes.

Finally, pour in the milk and season with salt and pepper.

Traditionally, leek soup is served with bread and butter and cheese.

[Translated from here.]

Sítrónu skyrterta

Lemon Skyr Cake

I guess you never can have enough recipes for skyr cake, skyr pies and skyr desserts. Here I present a "no bake" version of skyr cake with fresh lemon and lemon curd. It's gorgeously fruity!


Ingredients


200 g oat biscuits
75 g unsalted butter
250 g whipping cream
350 g vanilla skyr
60 g instant gelatine powder
3 eggs
125 g brown sugar
1 organic lemon
4 Tbsp lemon curd


Preparation

Thoroughly crumble the oat biscuits.

Melt butter in a pan,  ...

...add the biscuits crumbs and brown them lightly.

Then place the butter biscuit mass in a baking tin (approx. 22 cm) laid out with baking paper. Press it in the tin firmly.

Whip the cream.

Mix vanilla skyr with instant gelatine, some grated lemon peel and 1 Tbsp pressed lemon juice.

Carefully pull the whipped cream under the skyr mixture.

Beat the eggs and the brown sugar until frothy.

Stir the skyr cream with the sugar-egg mixture to form a smooth cream.

Place the cream on the bottom of the cake, ...

...as smooth as possible..

...and put the cake for about 2 hours into the fridge, ...

...so that the cake becomes firm.

Then remove it from the mold and spread it carefully with lemon curd. (Please do not place the lemon curd in the refrigerator before. Otherwise it will be too hard!)

Let it cool in the fridge for at least one further hour. Then serve well cooled.

[Translated from here.]

Pítsa með fiskmeti

Seafood pizza

Big excitement in Iceland - does pineapple really belong on a pizza?

The Icelandic President Guðni Th. Jóhannesson had recently visited the Menntaskólinn in Akureyri when asked by a student whether he liked to eat "Pizza Hawaii" and replied that he was fundamentally against pineapple and other fruit on pizza, if he could, he would have that banned.

A heated discussion ensued - about pizza toppings.

And the president corrected on Facebook: He thinks pineapple is good - just not on pizza. He is also pleased that as Icelandic president he does not have the power to legally ban pineapple on pizza. And - he wouldn't want to live in a country where the president has absolute power.

Oh, but he still recommends pizza with seafood: "Ég mæli með fiskmeti á pítsu."

By the way, the American soldiers brought pizza to Iceland...

In light of current events, here is a recipe for pizza with seafood:


Ingredients for 2 pizzas

500 g flour
2 tsp coarse sea salt
1 pack of yeast
325 ml warm water

150 g fish fillet
150 g shellfish
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 large tomatoes
1 pinch of coarse sea salt
1 pinch of black pepper
1 Tbsp chopped parsley


Preparation

In a large bowl, mix the flour with the salt.

Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, add it to the flour and knead everything very thoroughly by hand.

Then divide into two parts, form a ball each and let it rise, covered, in a warm place for about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 425 °F (220 °C) upper/lower heat.

Roll out each dough ball as thinly as possible and somewhat circular on a baking tray lined with baking paper.

Wash the tomatoes, remove the stem and dice,...

...cut the fish fillet into bite-sized pieces.

In a bowl, mix the chopped tomatoes with the fish fillet, shellfish, oil, salt and pepper and chopped parsley.

Then spread the mixture over the pizza bases.

Bake the pizza in the oven at 425 °F (220 °C) upper and lower heat for about 10 minutes until the pizza is ready.

In this sense: "Eg mæli með fiskmeti á pítsu."

[Translated from here.]

Laugardagssnúðarnir

Source: timarit.is

Saturday rolls

This recipe originally comes from an Icelandic newspaper from February 1960.

“Saturday” means “Laugardagur” in Icelandic, literally “washing day”. Traditionally, washing was done on Saturday, both the laundry and the people themselves.

Since the housewives were busy doing laundry that day, the newspaper recommended that they quickly bake these quick, very filling rolls on Saturday morning and serve them to the family before their mother went to do the laundry and didn't have time to cook for lunch. And if she were lucky, there might be one last rolls left for the housewife on Sunday... well then - meal!


Ingredients for approx. 18 rolls

500 g flour
50 g sugar
1 pack of dry yeast
1 tsp salt
250 ml lukewarm milk
75 g melted margarine
1 egg

100 g butter
100 g sugar
2 tsp cinnamon

250 powdered sugar
250 g cream cheese
120 g margarine
1 tsp ground vanilla


Preparation

Mix the flour with the sugar, salt and dry yeast.

Add the lukewarm milk and melted margarine and stir.

Finally add the egg.

Knead the dough thoroughly and let it rise in a warm place for about 1/2 hour.

Then roll out the dough flat (approx. 25 cm x 35 cm).

Mix the sugar with the margarine and cinnamon until creamy...

...and spread on the rolled out dough.

Then roll up the dough as tightly as possible over the long side and cut into slices approx. 2 cm thick...

...and then let the rolls rise covered for another 1/4 hour. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350 °F (180 °C) upper/lower heat.

Then bake the rolls at 350 °F (180 °C) for about 15 minutes until they are golden brown.

Take the rolls out of the oven.

Mix the powdered sugar, cream cheese, margarine and vanilla together and pour about 1 teaspoon of the mixture onto the still warm rolls.

...and put about 1 teaspoon of the mixture on each of the still warm rolls.

Then carefully place the rolls in the refrigerator so that the coating becomes somewhat firm and serve well chilled.

By the way - the Old Icelandic winter month of Góa begins on Sunday between February 18th and 24th. On the first day of this month, Iceland traditionally celebrates Konudagur, or "Wives' Day". With this in mind, today on Sunday, February 19, 2017 - Happy Wife's Day everyone! Til hamingju með konudaginn!





[Translated from here.]