Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

Blackcurrants have come to be regarded as a superfood. They are very high in vitamin C, as well as being a good source of potassium, iron and pantothenic acid (vitamin B5). They are also very tasty. When I was growing up, my grandmother's house was surrounded by a hedge of blackcurrant bushes. I loved being able to go out into the garden and pick the ripe berries off the branches and pop them straight into my mouth. 1 kg blackcurrants 100-200 ml water 500-600 g sugar Rinse the berries under cold running water and drain well. Put in a cooking pot and bring to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the berries burst, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until melted. Pour into sterilised jars, filling them completely and closing them while the jam is hot. Should keep for a year, but if you want to make sure, add a preservative.

I love redcurrants , both cooked and raw. I usually make redcurrant jelly , rather than jam, but the jam is good too, especially with smoked ham. I sometimes make jelly from a mixture of redcurrants and stone bramble berries, which has a beautiful ruby-red colour and tastes delicious with strong cheese, and on the side with lamb and all sorts of game. 1 kg redcurrants 500-600 g sugar Rinse the berries under cold running water and drain well. Put in a cooking pot and bring to the boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until the berries burst, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar until melted. Pour into sterilised jars, filling them completely and closing them while the jam is hot. Should keep for a year. To make redcurrant jam with a preservative, use 1 kg redcurrants 350 g sugar 1/2 tsp salicylic acid (or other preservative) Make the jam as instructed above, them mix in the preservative before putting the jam in the jars.

This is served with all sorts of foods and some people will eat it with anything. It is delicious spread on pancakes, between the layers of a Devil's Cake , on waffles (with cream), with roast lamb, or even with ice-cream. There are two varieties of this jam: dark and light. My mother always makes the thick, dark variety. The light variety is better if you intend to use it in baking or to spread on cakes. Recipe: 1 kg rhubarb (use the red variety as much as possible, it gives better colour) 800g-1 kg white sugar Wash the rhubarb with cold water and remove any traces of the leaves, which are toxic. Leave the white roots.  Chop up the rhubarb, mix up with the sugar and stand aside over night, then put it in a big cooking pot and bring to the boil over high temperature. Turn down the heat and cook on low until it is about the thickness of thick porridge.  The original recipe recommends about 10-20 minutes, but if you want darker, thicker jam, cook it longer. Stir frequentl...

This cake is also called Randalín (the striped lady). The name Vínarterta means Viennese Torte , but with the English spelling which leaves out the accent above the i, it becomes Friend’s Cake . A variation of this cake is famous among the Western-Icelanders - the descendants of Icelandic immigrants in Canada and the U.S.A. For them, there is hardly anything more Icelandic than Vínarterta. In spite of the name Viennese Cake , I think it probably originated in Denmark. The Western-Icelandic version is somewhat different from this. You can find many variations on the web. Even Martha Stewart has one! This is my grandmother's recipe. She used to spread rhubarb jam on it while it was still warm, so the jam would seep into the cake. Mmmmmmm! Ingredients: 500 g flour 250 g sugar 250 g margarine/butter, soft 2 eggs 1 1/2 tsp. baker's ammonia (ammonium carbonate) a pinch of baking powder essence of cardamom or a pinch of ground cardamom  Rhubarb jam or stewed ...