Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

300 g smoked salmon 3 eggs, hard-boiled 2 tbs mayonnaise 4 tbs sour cream Dill Aromat or Accent (may be left out) Chop the salmon very finely, e.g. in a food processor, but do not process into a paste – there should be tiny pieces of salmon in the spread. Mash the eggs with a fork and mix together the eggs, salmon, mayonnaise and sour cream. Add a little Aromat and dill. Chill and serve with crackers or slices of white baguette.

I had planned to post a sandwich loaf recipe much earlier, but I rarely make them and when I do, I don’t use a recipe, so I had to find a set recipe first. I finally did find it, in fact several of them, which I will be posting in the following weeks. Sandwich loaves, or ‘bread cakes’ (in Icelandic: brauðtertur ) as they are called in Iceland, are an enduring presence at Icelandic celebrations where cakes are served. While not an Icelandic invention (I think they may have originated in the USA , or possibly in Sweden ), they have been popular here for at least 50 years and there seems to be no stopping them. While the fillings change according to fashion and whim and we don’t use half as much mayonnaise in them as we once did, they continue to be a vehicle for cooks to display their talents with garnish, and a savoury palate cleanser in between nibbles of all the sweet stuff that's usually served at traditional birthday parties. They are generally made from white bread, and you...

The Norwegians and/or Swedes invented Gravlax, and it is a national dish in both countries. This pickled salmon is an excellent entrée and has in recent years become a necessary part of any cold buffet in Iceland. It is almost always served in the same way: thin slices on toast with mustard-dill sauce. I'm including two gravlax recipes here, one with MSG and another one without it. I'm also including two recipes for mustard-dill sauce, one simple, the other fancy. The pickle mix can also be used with trout. Recipe 1: The following pickle is enough for two medium salmon fillets (from a 3-4 kg. fish). 4 tbs fine salt 1/2 tsp ground pepper 1 tsp fennel 1 tsp MSG 3 tbs dill (fresh) Mix all ingredients together. Apply an even layer of the mix to the fish. Wrap each fillet in plastic wrap and then in kitchen foil, skin down. Leave in the refrigerator for 4 days. Remove the gravlax from the packaging and gently scrape off the spice mix. Cut the fish into very th...