Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

This, of course, is not Icelandic, but Icelanders are very fond of salads and sauces based on mayonnaise, so here is a recipe. makes 200-300 grams (7-10 oz.) 2 egg yolks 1/2 tsp salt 200-300 ml salad (or cooking) oil 1 pinch pepper (optional) 1/2-1 tsp sugar 1 pinch dry, ground mustard seeds (optional) 1-2 tsp vinegar or lemon juice. White vinegar can be used but will make the taste sharp. Flavoured vinegar, such as tarragon, makes the taste more mellow. Mayonnaise can be made in a blender or a mixer, or by hand, using a whisk and a bowl with a rounded bottom. Egg yolks and oil must be at room temperature. Mixing bowl/blender cup must be clean and dry, and also at room temperature. Choose oil that has little flavour of its own. Mix and stir the egg yolks with the salt until light and thickened. Add the sugar and the spice, if using (pepper OR mustard) and half the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well. Lemon juice is healthier than vinegar, and mayonnaise made with lemon juice is better in ...

This is a flavourful sauce that I use for chicken, fish and pasta. This makes a meal for two. 1/2 onion, chopped 50-100 g mushrooms (less for chicken and fish, more for pasta), sliced 10-15 slices of pepperoni, quartered (from the smaller kind of pepperoni sausage. If you have the big slices where one is enough to top a slice of bread, halve the amount and cut into more pieces), OR equal amount of bacon (will be less flavourful) 1 tbs tomato purée 150 ml cream garlic to taste salt, if needed 200 g chicken (breasts or thigh meat) or white fish, cubed 1 cup of rice (or more if you simply love rice or need to make the meal bigger) salt, pepper and your favourite chicken or fish spice blend Additional for fish: ½ cup flour cheese, grated or sliced OR enough pasta (farfalle or rotini) for two people Heat oven to 180°C (170°C if you have a convection oven like I do). While the oven is heating up, cut the chicken or fish into bite-sized cubes and prepare the onions, mushrooms and pepperoni. I...

I recently got this request (through my book blog): “I read the recipes from Iceland. I was wondering if you have recipes for the hot dog toppings for a hot dog with the works? We visited there last June and loved them, but couldn't figure out how to make them ourselves!?” A hot dog with the works includes ketchup, remoulade, French fried onions and mustard, sometimes also raw onions. Here is part of an essay I wrote about hot dogs: “ The basics of an Icelandic hot dog : Icelandic hot dog sausages are made from a mixture of pork, lamb and beef. The fat content is quite high, as you can see if you grill or fry one. They are flavourful and I like them better than any other hot dog sausages. Having run an Icelandic food website in English for several years, I can attest that they are the subject I get the biggest number of e-mails about from abroad, all of them positive, and most of them asking where they can order some. The bun is a regular hot dog bun: sweet, soft, lig...

Every nation has its favourite condiment to use with French fries. The British use vinegar and the Americans ketchup, but the favoured condiment in Iceland is cocktail sauce. This versatile pink goo is also good with deep-fried or broiled chicken, hot dogs, grilled sausages and fried fish. I have watched in amusement as Icelanders abroad tried to make cocktail sauce from salad cream and ketchup because they could not imagine eating fries without it. The most basic recipe calls for mayonnaise and ketchup, but this one is a little more refined ;-) Take 200 gr. sour cream or 100 gr. sour cream and 100 gr. mayonnaise and stir until smooth. If you are using both mayo and cream, stir separately and then mix. This is important and will help you avoid lumps in the sauce. Add approx. 3 tbs ketchup. Finally, add 1/2-1 tsp sweet mustard. This is what it's supposed to look like: You can make cocktail sauce in a blender, in which case you just dump everything in at once and mix ...