Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

200 g dried apples (slices) 1 1/2 liter water 75-100 g sugar 2-3 tbs potato flour or cornstarch 100 ml cold water Wash the apples and soak in the water with half the sugar for about 12 hours. Cook until soft. Make a paste with the starch and cold water and stir into the compote to thicken. Add remaining sugar, or to taste. Pour into a bowl and sprinkle sugar on top. Serve warm or cold, with cream if preferred.

This is a simple and flavourful compote and delicious served with cream. 350 g dried apricots 1 liter water 100-200 g sugar Wash the apricots and soak in the water with the sugar for about 12 hours. Cook in the syrup that forms during the soaking time, until the compote is thick and the apricots are soft.

There are many Icelandic recipes for fruit compotes made from dried fruit, some mixed, some using one particular fruit. Most common are apricot, prune and apple compotes. I have already posted a recipe for mixed fruit compote and compote of fresh rhubarb , and will be posting more over the next few weeks. These compotes are good both warm and cold, and are usually served with cream or half-and-half. They can be bought ready made in most supermarkets. For those who like to do things themselves, here is a recipe for prune compote. 250 g prunes with pits 1 liter water 2-4 tbs sugar 3 tbs potato flour or cornstarch 100 ml cold water Wash the prunes and soak in the water for about 12 hours, then cook in the water they were soaked in, until they are soft (if using prunes that are already soft, skip the soaking part). Remove pits. Add sugar to taste. Make a paste of starch and cold water and stir into the compote to thicken. Pour into a bowl, sprinkle sugar on top and serve warm or cold. Goo...

It's rhubarb season, so here is a recipe to try. Rhubarb grows in abundance in almost every vegetable garden in Iceland, right alongside the potatoes. In the summer, it is mostly used for soup and grautur (compote). It is preserved mostly as jam, but it also freezes well, and tastes excellent when preserved in syrup. There are many homes where rhubarb soup/ grautur is eaten throughout the winter. It is also good for desserts (especially pies and compotes) and chutneys, and it makes excellent wine. My mother used to make rhubarb compote about once or twice a month through the summer when I was little, but after my brother decided that he didn't like it, she hardly ever makes it anymore. 3/4 litres water 3-3 1/2 tbs potato starch/cornflour 250 g rhubarb 100 ml water, cold 200 ml sugar Wash the rhubarb and chop into small pieces. Drop into cold water and bring to the boil. Cook until the rhubarb pieces separate. Add the sugar and thicken with the potato starch. Don...

This is one of my father's favourite dishes. He likes it best with heaps of sugar and cream. It can be served hot or cold, as a meal in itself or as a dessert. 150 g. mixed dried fruit – the usual Icelandic combination is prunes, apples, apricots, pears and peaches. Or you can use one type of dried fruit. 100 g. sugar 900 ml. water 30 g. potato flour (or cornstarch) mixed with 100 ml. cold water Cook the fruit in the water until soft. Press through a sieve or process in a blender if you desire a finer texture. Add sugar and thicken with potato flour mix. Serve hot or cold, with cream or half & half.