Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

Since the holiday season in upon us I decided to gather together all the Christmas recipes I have published on this blog. I chose to do it this way rather than repost them because the comments get lost when reposting. I plan to make this an annual post, with new recipes added as they come along, so if you have comments, please comment on the recipes themselves, unless you don't mind if your comments go missing every time I repost this list. So here they are, starting with the Christmas dinner dishes: Starters or desserts: Rice pudding Ris a la mande Vanilla ice cream Main dishes: Hangikjöt (smoked lamb) Pork rib roast Roast lamb Rock ptarmigan Side dishes and accompaniments: Leaf bread Christmas cocktail Pickled red cabbage Caramel potatoes Cakes and cookies: Gingerbread sandwich cookies   Sarah Bernhardt cookies Jewish cookies Half-moons Coconut wreaths Siggi's cookies Syrup cookies Air cookies Spice cake with buttercream Christmas cake

Today is Shrove Tuesday. This day is called Sprengidagur (Bursting Day) in Iceland. This is the last day before Lent, and during the time when Icelanders still observed the fast, it was the last day on which meat could be eaten until Easter. The origins of the Icelandic name for this day are uncertain, but today it is generally taken to mean "eating until you feel like you're bursting". Split pea soup and salted mutton has been the traditional meal for this day since the 19th century. Recipe: 2 l water 500 g lamb meat or mutton, preferably salt cured, or salt pork if lamb/mutton is not available 200 g yellow split peas 1 tsp salt 500 g potatoes 1 onion 500 g carrots and rutabagas 3-4 slices smoked bacon (optional) (I use a lot more) Soak the peas for time indicated on packaging. Bring water to the boil. Cut onion into chunks and add to the water with the meat and peas, and cook for about 1 hour. If you are using bacon, cook with the rest for the last 1/2 ho...

It's Bolludagur again - so it's time for a repost from 2008: In Iceland, the last Monday before Lent is called Bolludagur , or Bun Day. On this day, we stuff ourselves with delicious, sweet buns, and many families eat meatballs or fish balls for dinner ( bolla can mean both "bun" and "ball").  Two kinds of buns are made: One recipe uses yeast for rising, the other uses eggs. My mother always makes the egg kind, which are made with choux dough. As a result, I have never been able to acquire a taste for the yeast buns. The choux buns are basically profiteroles with a local twist. Choux buns, AKA profiteroles 125 g margarine or butter 250 ml water 125 g flour 4 eggs 400 ml heavy cream or whipping cream Put the water and margarine together in a saucepan and heat until margarine is melted. Sift the flour into the mixture and stir until the dough is smooth and thick. Keep the saucepan on the hotplate while stirring. Remove from the hotplate and ...