~ Skonsur

Skonsur, or pan-fried bread, is a hearty pancake type bread. Although very close to a traditional american pancake, Skonsur is served cold with typical sandwitch fixings such as cheese, sandwitch meats and vegetable toppings. This was the perfect choice for a lazy Thursday brunch.

Ingredients:

- 1 cup of milk

- 250g of flour

-1/2tsp of salt

-30g of melted butter

-1egg

- 4 1/2 tsp of baking powder

- 2 tbsp of sugar

Combine dry ingredients.

Add egg

melted butter

and milk. Stir until just combined.

On a hot pan, cook the cakes into palm sized rounds. You can tell when the skonsur is ready to flip when bubble start to appear at the surface.

Although this recipe is not technically a pancake recipe it is my new all time favourite pancake recipe. The cakes are fluffy and thick and delicious served with both syrup and butter as well as bread for an afternoon snack. 

~ Flatbrauð

Flatbrauð is a Icelandic flatbread made with just rye flour, salt and boiling water. This recipe sounded very simple but didn't turn out very well. (It may have been that I just don't like crunchy bread, or I burnt it too much). Considering the ingredients as well as the cooking method, flatbrauð seemed to me the most authentic Icelandic recipe I have tried. 

Ingredients:

- 250g of rye flour

- 1/4tsp of salt

- 175ml of boiling water

Combine salt and rye flour.

Add boiling water and very carefully kneed into a soft doe. 

Roll the doe out as flat as possible. If lacking a rolling pin, try a can. 

Use a bowl to cut out a circular bread shape. 

Puncture the bread with a fork to create many little holes. 

On a very hot pan (or even the stove itself) cook the bread until it appears dry. The recipe says to go as far as lightly burning the bread. 

To keep the Flatbrauð from going dry, dip the bread into very hot water immediately after it has finished cooking. 

Serve bread with meats, cheeses and even rhubarb jam. Although it was not what I imagined, this was a fun Icelandic recipe to try. 

~ Rabarbarasulta

If I were on death row, toast would be a necessity in my last meal. My obsession with toast has given me a love for anything that you can spread on bread. I was very happy to find this recipe for, Rabarbarasulta, rhubarb jam and had to make it right away. Many of the recipes I have found include sugar, so I wonder when sugar was first introduced to Iceland. 

Ingredients:

- 1/2kg rhubarb 

- 400g white sugar

Prep the rhubarb by washing and removing any stems or leaves and cutting the rhubarb into inch sized pieces. Mix rhubarb with sugar and allow it to sit over night in the fridge.

 Before breakfast the next morning, bring the mixture to a boil in a pot and consider to simmer and stir until the mixture thickens. 

This took about 15min for my jam. 

Pour the jam into a jar and cap it with a lid to create a seal. This jam was fantastic on toast, and has given me the confidence to start making more jams to feed my toast obsession. 

~ Rabarbaragrautur

Rhubarb is a very popular plant that grows in the gardens of many Icelandic homes because of its ability to grow in almost any soil. With so much rhubarb on hand, rabarbaragrautur has been the result. Rabarbaragrautur is a sweet, stewed rhubarb creation that gets paired with an assortment of foods. I found it to taste like Rhubarb pie filling so I was quite pleased. 

Ingredients:

- 250g of rhubarb

- 3/4 litres water

- 50g sugar

- 3 tbsp corn starch

- 50ml of cold water

Start by adding rhubarb and water to a pot and bring to a boil. 

 Allow rhubarb to become soft and easily broken apart then add sugar. 

Take some of the liquid from the pot into a small dish and mix with corn starch until all lumps are removed (this stops your rhubarb from getting lumpy. This trick is also great for smooth, lump free gravy) Slowly add the corn starch mix to the rhubard to thicken. Serve Rabarbaragrautur hot with meets, on breads or even mixed into Hrísgrjónagrautur (Rice Pudding).

~ Saltkjöt Og Baunir

Saltkjöt og Baunir is a delicious salt meat stew made from simple ingredients that would have been found in Icelandic kitchens year round. A dried split pea base, and thick vegetable chunk style makes this stew into a hearty warm meal, perfect for November. 

Ingredients: 

-2ltrs of water 

-200g yellow split peas 

- 400g potatoes 

-400g carrots 

- 500 g lamb meat or salted pork 

- 1tsp salt 

- 1 medium onion

Start my softening the peas in a portion of the water. This will take about 20minutes. Bring the rest of the water to a boil in a pot.

Pour the peas and water solution into the pot and allow to come to a rolling boil. Add onions

salt and salted meat. Cook for an hour. 

Half way through the cooking process add carrots

and potatoes. Allow to cook for the remainder of the time. 

Serve hot with a piece of bread for dipping. This is one of the best stew recipes I have ever tried. I am amazed at how such basic ingredients can create something so delicious. 

~ Piparkökur

With the weather being so cold, I decided to do some baking and try out Piparkökur, an Icelandic cookie recipe. Although I still don't feel that sugar is very authentic, I enjoyed this recipe. Like many of the savoury foods, Icelandic desserts are hearty sweets made from simple ingredients (although this was the most complicated recipe yet).

Ingredients: 

- 250g flour

- 125g butter

- 250g sugar

- 2 1/2tsp baking powder

- 1tsp ginger

- 1/4tsp cloves

- 1/4tsp paprika

- 1 egg

- 1/2tsp baking soda

- 1tsp cinnamon

- 1/2tsp ground pepper

*personally, I will double each spice the next time I make these cookies

In a bowl, combine the dry ingredients and spices. 

Add the butter and egg.

Stir until just combined. The cookie doe will hold together instead of crumbling, if not, add a little more egg.

Roll the doe into a cylinder and allow to sit in the fridge until the butter has hardened. This will allow you to handle the cookie doe without melting the butter too much. Cut into sections and roll doe into even size balls.

Arrange on a cookie sheet and bake until dark brown in a 200°c oven.

These cookies were very good straight out of the oven. I found them a bit dry when they had cooled so I dunked them in milk. yummy!

~ Beinlausir fuglar

Beinlausir fuglar, also known as 'boneless birds' was one of my boyfriend's favourite Icelandic meals even though there are no birds harmed in this recipe. This is a very simple meal that feels very true to the traditional Island. 

Ingredients:

- 1kg lamb or beef 

- 100g bacon

- a tbsp butter

-500ml water

- 30g potato starch

- salt and pepper to taste

Cut the meat into thin long thin fillets (but not too long, or your rolls will be very very large)

season with salt and pepper

Prep your bacon. This bacon will be rolled up so it will be difficult to drain off the fat. If your bacon was fatty as mine, you can trim it down with scissors. 

Line the meat with a piece of bacon, roll up and tie together.

Set the meat aside and melt butter in a hot pan.

Brown the meat

Turn down to medium-low and simmer in water until the meat is cooked through, adding water as needed. (About 20min)

Transfer the meat from the pan and fry it in another pan with onions. Although it meant veering from tradition cooking, I added a bit of olive oil so they wouldn't stick. While the onions cook, use the remaining liquid in the original pan to make a gravy with the starch. 

Serve with kartöflustappa (mashed potatoes) and Rauðkál (pickled red cabbage) to please any meat lover. This recipe has been requested again for next week!