Icelandic cooking, recipes and food

Stone bramble berries have a somewhat bitter flavour that goes well with lamb and all kinds of game, for example reindeer and wild goose. I can usually only get a very small amount of them, but I often mix them with redcurrants to get a very nice, beautifully red jelly. Pick stone bramble berries. It takes a considerable amount of berries to get a good amount of juice, but I can't tell you exactly what amount of berries will yield what amount of juice. Flush the berries with cold water and put in a cooking pot. Bring to the boil on low and cook gently until the berries burst and release their juice. Pour the berries and juice into a cheesecloth strainer and strain away the juice. The cheesecloth may be squeezed to extract more juice.   Measure the juice and put it in a cooking pot and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and add 1 kg of sugar for every litre of juice (if it’s less than a litre, then add 100 grams of sugar for each 100 ml of juice). Stir to dissolve the ...

I am going on holiday on Friday and will be back on the 24th. Until then I will not able to reply to any e-mails or comments, but send them in anyway and I will look at them when I get back.

This is somehting I plan to try when the rhubarb is sufficiently grown for harvesting: 1 kg rhubarb stalks 1,8 ltr water 450 ml sugar Juice of one big lemon Cut the rhubarb into small pieces and cook in the water for 15 minutes. Don’t stir it. Strain and throw away the rhubarb pulp. Add the sugar and lemon juice to the rhubarb juice and bring to the boil. Cool and bottle. Keep refrigerated. Serve cold and thin with water as desired.

Angelica ( Angelica archangelica ) is the most highly regarded medicinal plant growing in Iceland, considered more potent than even yarrow ( Achillea millefolium ) and Iceland moss ( Cetraria islandica ). It has been used to fight infections (bacterial, fungal and viral), as a local anaesthetic, to strengthen the immune system and as an aid to digestion and recent research has show it to be effective against cancer cells. Abroad it is used to flavour alcoholic drinks such as Bénédictine , Chartreuse, Vermouth and Dubonnet, and locally the root is used to flavour schnapps (Hvannarótarbrennivín). As a medicine it is most often made into a tisane or a tincture, using leaves, root or seeds. It is also a food plant. Here is one recipe: Take fresh, young angelica stalks, peel off the outer layer and wash the stalks in cold water. Cut away any spots. Pour hot water over the stalks, then cook them in salted water until they are soft. Drain carefully, and serve with whipped butter. May als...

I have had several requests for this dish, so I decided to post the recipe. Apparently it was a favourite with American servicemen stationed at Keflavik airport and some of them still remember it fondly. This isn't a specifically Icelandic dish, but you can buy it in many diners and restaurants all over the country. Fried fish Orly with cocktail sauce and salad Orly batter: 300 ml (10 fl.oz.) light lager or water 2 tbs sugar 1 tsp salt (the original recipe says 1 tbs, but this must be an error as it's way too much salt) 1 tbs cooking oil (the original recipe says 1 tsp, but this must also be an error - there needs to be more than 1 teaspoon of oil in the batter) 1 egg yolk flour 1 egg white Mix together the lager or water, sugar, salt oil and egg yolk and thicken with flour until the batter is the thickness of pancake batter. Let stand for 1 hour at room temperature. Whip the egg white stiff and fold into the batter just before you use it. May be used to coa...

Light and frothy cold puddings made with egg and thickened with gelatine are known as "frómas" in Icelandic and as "fromage" in Danish. Those who know their French will realise that this is the French word for cheese. How it underwent the change in meaning from French to Danish is not known. This recipe is in all likelihood originally Danish. This is a popular dessert in my family that my mother makes  for special occasions. With a bit of adjustment, it can be adapted to other kinds of flavours. For example, I adore the lemon version. Ingredients: 250 g sugar 5 eggs, whites and yolks separated 12 sheets of gelatine 2 cups double cream or whipping cream 2 small cans (8. oz.) pineapple rings in juice, cut into small chunks (retain 2-3 rings for decoration) Pineapple juice from the can juice from 1 lemon Method: In separate bowls, whip together the egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy, whip the cream until it forms stiff peaks, and whip the egg w...

My friends call this cake "that heavenly date cake with the caramel sauce". It is apparently an old recipe, but someone must have rediscovered it recently, because it has been served a lot at birthday parties and ladies' handicrafts clubs lately. I haven't got a clue where the recipe originally came from, but in Iceland it's known either as döðluterta með karamellusósu , which simply describes what it is, or as Dillonskaka or Dillon's Cake , which could suggests Irish or British origins. However, it might, and this is supported by information from some older ladies I know, be named after Lord Dillon, a British aristocrat who came to Iceland in 1834, fell in love with a local woman and built a house that he gave her before he left the country. It was a famous scandal at the time, as they had a child out of wedlock and were prevented from marrying by his family. She ran a guest house in the house he gave her and sold meals there for many years. Today the ho...