Boiled and stewed rutabagas (swedes) - Soðnar rófur og rófustappa

This root is known variously as a rutabaga, swede, swedish turnip or yellow turnip.

I prefer rutabagas raw, but I also like them in lamb soup.

Poached rutabagas:

Wash 1 kg. the rutabagas in cold water and peel them. If small, leave whole or halve, if big, quarter and then halve or cut into wedges and halve those. Try to make the pieces a uniform size.

Bring 1/2 liter water with 2 tsp salt to a gentle boil. Drop the rutabaga pieces into the water and poach - or steam them for a stronger flavour - until soft. Take care not to overcook, of they will become watery and bland.

Serve with boiled meats and fish.

Mashed rutabagas:

1 kg rutabagas
salted water
(100-200 ml milk)
50 g butter
salt, pepper, (sugar)

Wash, peel and re-wash the rutabagas in cold water. Cook in the salted water until soft. Remove from the cooking liquid and mash thoroughly. Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the mash and thin with the milk, if needed, to the consistency of thin mashed potatoes. Add salt, pepper and sugar, if desired.

Traditionally served, hot or cold, with traditional Þorri foods.

Pickled red beets

Red beets are traditionally served with meats, especially pork, but I like them best in herring salad, creamy beet salad (recipe upcoming) and with liverwurst on Danish rye bread.

Red beets
water
salt

100-200 g sugar
1 liter white vinegar

Wash the beets thoroughly in cold water, put into cold water, add salt and cook until done through. Remove from the cooking liquid and gently remove the skins with your hands and cut off the tops. Slice the beets into slices, about 1/2 cm thick (I like them crinkle-cut). Fill a pickling jar with the beet slices.

Cook together sugar and vinegar until the sugar is melted. Pour boiling vinegar over the beet slices. They will keep in sealed jars for 2-3 months.

Red beet salad - Rauðrófusalat

This is delicious with pork roast, ham, hangikjöt or salt herring:

Pickled red beets (beetroots)
Sweet apple
Beet juice
Lemon juice
Cream
Sugar
all to taste

The beets and apples are cut into small cubes and mixed into softly whipped cream, along with lemon juice, sugar to taste, and enough beet juice to turn the salad pink.

Rye bread tops - Rúgbrauðstoppar

These little rye bread "cakes" are made to be served with milk soups or hot milk. Make sure you use the sweet Icelandic type of rye bread and not the Danish or German style unsweetened pumpernickel bread.

250 g rye bread, finely crumbled or grated
75 g sugar
100 g butter or margarine

Mix together bread and sugar and gently brown in the butter in a frying pan until it begins to harden. Press into egg cups or miniature muffin tins to cool. Serve with sweet milk soups or hot milk.

Mashed Potatoes - Kartöflustappa/kartöflumús

Is there a potato-growing country in the world where people don’t make mashed potatoes? I doubt it. Here is one version. I have been making mashed potatoes since I learned to cook and have never used a recipe, but this recipe gives a good idea of the approximate proportions of the ingredients.

Mashed potatoes are served with many Icelandic dishes. I like it best with sausages, stews and goulash, and occasionally with roast lamb. It's also good with fried liver sausage.

1 1/2 kg potatoes
1/2 l milk
1 tbs butter (approx.)
1/2 tsp salt
15 g sugar (approx.)

Cook the potatoes, peel and mash well. Add some milk and stir well. Continue adding milk until the desired consistency is reached (should be fairly thick, but not runny). Add the butter, sugar and salt to taste. Warm up, but do not boil.

Notes:
-Add a pinch of ground nutmeg as well as salt and sugar.
-For really light, lumpless and fluffy mashed potatoes, whip them, but not for long or they can become gummy.

A little etymology: The popular Icelandic name for mashed potatoes is kartöflumús. Mús means “mouse”, which some little kids think is very funny, but it’s actually an Icelanic spelling of the French word mousse.

Cauliflower-cheese bake – Bakað blómkál með osti

My aunt often serves this as a side dish with Sunday roast, but it is also a good main dish for vegetarians who eat dairy products.

To serve 6 as a side dish or 2 as a main dish with bread and a salad.

1 medium head of cauliflower
½ cup breadcrumbs
2 tbsp Parmesan cheese
100 g mild cheese (I like Gouda), grated

Remove all the greens from the cauliflower and cook (in one piece) in lightly salted water for 10-15 minutes. Heat the oven to 200°C. Remove cauliflower from the water, drain and put in an oven-proof dish. Mix together breadcrumbs and Parmesan and sprinkle on top of the cauliflower and top with grated cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and beginning to brown. Serve warm.

Rauðkál - Pickled red cabbage

This side dish is good with many kinds of roasted and broiled meats. For many it is a necessity with the Christmas ham or steak. I don't particularly like vinegar pickled cabbage so I haven't tried this recipe myself, but I'm told it is good.

2-3 tbs butter
1 kg red cabbage, shredded
1/2 cup white vinegar OR red wine vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
2-3 tsp salt

Melt the butter at medium temperature. Add finely shredded red cabbage and stir to coat with the hot butter. When the buttered cabbage begins to sizzle, add vinegar, sugar and salt. Simmer until the cabbage is limp and boiled through (about 45 mins. to 1 hour).
Serve with ham, pork roast, roast lamb, duck, goose or turkey.

Some people will eat this with hot dogs as well.

Brúnaðar kartöflur - Caramelised potatoes

These are good with any kind of roast meat, especially lamb and pork roast. I don't like to make them too often, just occasionally.

Potatoes caramelising in the pan:


1 kg cooked potatoes
50 g butter OR margarine
50 g sugar

If you need to convert the measures, see link on the right.

The potatoes should preferably be cold, but it is not necessary. They should be small and even in size. If they are big, cut into smaller pieces (about bite-size), flush with water and pat dry. Put the sugar in a medium hot frying pan. When it starts to brown, add the butter and stir to mix. Lower temperature and add potatoes. Roll the potatoes around to coat evenly. The caramel covering should be soft and light brown. If it is dark and hard, the sugar syrup was too hot. This can be fixed by removing the left-over sugar from the pan and returning the potatoes to the pan with a little water. Roll them around and allow the boiling water to soften the caramel shell.
Serve hot, for example with roast or ham.

Ready to serve:


Note:
Beware of canned pre-cooked potatoes. I once tried caramelising some canned potatoes which turned out to be full of water which made them explode when it boiled. I was showered with burning hot sugar syrup from the pan and got 2nd and 3rd degree burns on my hand and my face where the syrup droplets landed.

Icelandic cocktail sauce - Kokkteilsósa

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 cauce. 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.

convert measures

You can make cocktail sauce in a blender, in which case you just dump everything in at once and mix on high until smooth.

Notes:
-For simple cocktail sauce, use mayonnaise and add enough ketchup to turn it pink. Add a bit of cream to make it smoother.
-Try it in seafood/shrimp cocktail in place of seafood cocktail sauce.
-When using with fish, I usually mix in a little garlic to add bite to the sauce. Use either powdered or fresh garlic (finely chopped or crushed).
-To make my special hamburger sauce, make as above, using 50/50 mayo and sour cream or just light mayo. Add some finely chopped chives or mixed herbs. If the sauce seems too thick, thin with cream or milk.

Rabarbarasulta - Rhubarb Jam

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.

1 kg rhubarb (use the red variety as much as possible, it gives better colour)
800g-1 kg white sugar

convert measures

Wash the rhubarb with cold water. 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. Put 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 recipe recommends about 10-20 minutes, but if you want darker, thicker jam, cook it longer. Stir frequently.
When done, pour the hot jam into sterilised jars and close immediately. To keep longer, use preservative. For long-time storage, store in a cool, dark place. Refrigeration is not necessary. The sugar in rhubarb jam occasionally crystallises, in which case the jam can be re-heated to melt the sugar and re-poured into sterilised jars.

Note:
-For finer jam, chop finely, and when the mixture boils, remove from the heat, mince, return to the pot and continue cooking as directed.