Cookbook challenge

If you have read my book blog you will know that I am in the middle of a reading challenge. I recently made an inventory of my books and realised I had many cookbooks I had never tried as much as a single recipe from. While browsing these books I have often thought I should try this or that recipe, but more often than not I didn’t. When I realised how many cookbooks I had I got to thinking about my cooking habits and realised that in the last five years or so I have only tried maybe half a dozen new recipes a year, most of them found on the web. Before that, I used to try a couple of new recipes every month, many of them from cookbooks or my grandmother’s collection of newspaper recipe clippings.

I do think it’s okay to collect recipe books one never uses for anything other than reading or looking at the photos, but I still feel a little guilty for having them, because I originally bought them or was given them with the intent that they would be used. Therefore I think I would like to try a challenge that will not only justify my owning all these recipe books, but also get me into the kitchen to make something new every week.

I set myself these simple rules:
• To try at least one new recipe every week until I have tested at least one recipe from each of my recipe and cookery books. It can be for something as simple and quick as a cocktail, as time-consuming as a stew with 25+ ingredients, or as fiddly as sauce hollandaise, just as long as I like the look of the recipe.
• The recipe of the week must come from a different recipe book each time, but additional recipes can be from books I have used before.
• I will publish the results in a blog, complete with recipe(s), notes and recipe review(s).

That’s it.

Since this blog is supposed to be about Icelandic cooking, I’m starting a new cooking blog, Matarást . I will not stop posting to this one, but if you are a regular reader, you will know that my posting here is sporadic at best. I will not start until next week, as I will be away for the weekend.

Coconut Balls - Kókoskúlur

One of the things I got frequent requests for back before I closed my public e-mail account because of spam overload was Kókoskúlur or Coconut Balls. These are candies or no-bake cookies sold in most Icelandic bakeries. I was unable to find a recipe and no bakers were willing to part with one, so I had to give up. Now I have finally found a recipe. I don’t know if it is the right one, as I haven’t tested it, but I plan to make it on the weekend and do a taste comparison with a bakery-bought specimen. I can tell you right away that there is one ingredient missing that some (but not all) bakeries put in their coconut balls: rum essence.

Here is what they look like:



Ingredients
75 g (1/3 cup + 1 tsp) butter, soft
100 ml (2/5 cup) sugar
1 tbs vanilla sugar
300 ml (1 1/3 cups) oatmeal, the quick-cooking kind. Do not use instant as these have added salt.
175 g (6.3 oz) chocolate
2 tbs milk, at room temperature
100 ml (2/5 cup) desiccated coconut (small flakes)

Melt the chocolate in a bowl over a water bath. Mix together butter, sugar, vanilla sugar, melted chocolate, oatmeal and milk. Form into small balls and roll to coat with coconut. Chill before serving.
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Edit: Looks like I will have to delay the testing - I've been invited on a camping trip this weekend.

My mother’s herring on rye

My mother invented this dish. It can be served as a cold main dish or as an entrée using small portions.

Herring on rye:
Slices of sweet, dark rye or pumpernickel bread
Marinated herring (about one fillet for each slice of bread)
Thin slices of sweet apple (about one medium Red Delicious for each 6 slices of bread)
Sliced banana (about one medium banana for 2 slices of bread)
Sliced hard-boiled egg (about one egg for each 2 slices of bread)

Sauce:
I am not going to give exact measurements for the sauce, as I never make it the same way twice:
Mayonnaise (about 1 1/2 tbs for each slice of bread, more if you're a sauce fancier)
Honey
Mild or medium hot curry powder mix*
Cream (optional, see instructions)

Mix together mayonnaise and honey until well blended. The result should have a mild taste of honey. Add curry powder to taste. (If you need a recipe to follow, use one for gravlax sauce, leave out the mustard and replace the dill with curry powder). If sauce is thick, add some cream or whole milk until it becomes slightly runny.

Arrange the herring, apple, banana and egg slices on the slices of rye bread and top with the sauce.
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*I generally abhor the use of ready-made curry powder, preferring to mix the spices separately into the stew at the right moment in the cooking process. This is an exception.

Meat cake anyone?

This gave me a good laugh. The thing looks just like a regular cake, but it's really made from meatloaf and mashed potatoes with ketchup and other stuff you would expect to be served with meatloaf.

Tuna spread - Túnfisksalat

This is a cheap and easy tuna spread that is good on bread and crackers, in sandwiches and sandwich cakes. For some reason, spreads like this are called “salads” in Icelandic.

Ingredients:
1 regular can tuna, well drained. I generally use tuna in brine or water, but tuna in oil can be used as well. The medium quality supermarket brands are suitable for this spread. When draining, cut off the lid of the can completely, hold it and upend the can to let most of the juice run off, then press the lid into the can to squeeze out as much liquid as possible. If you don’t, the spread will be soggy.

3-4 tbs mayonnaise, or more if you love the taste of it. I prefer to just use it as a binding agent rather than have the other ingredients swimming in it. Some of the mayo can be replaced with sour cream for a fresher taste – especially good if you use chives instead of onion.

1 hardboiled egg, chopped. I either put it twice through an egg slicer, once lengthwise and once crosswise, or if I’m not making the spread for company I simply dump the egg into the spread and mash it in with a fork. It doesn’t look as good, but the taste is the same.

1/4 to 1/2 onion, finely chopped. Chives or shallots may be used instead.

Salt, pepper, garlic powder (or fresh, minced garlic if you have it on hand), all to taste

Mix all ingredients well together and adjust taste with salt and spices. Serve with crackers, saltines or bread. I sometimes use this as a filing for baked potatoes, but then I leave out the egg.

You can also make the spread without the egg and serve it with slices of egg on the side.

Alternative version:

Tuna, as above
Mayonnaise, as above
1/2 can of sweet corn, well drained
Salt, to taste

Mix and enjoy as above. The tuna may be replaced with finely chopped cooked chicken.

Recommended website for visitors to Iceland

While searching the web for a recipe, I came across a website which should prove a very useful resource for anyone who is preparing a visit to Iceland and wants to shop for food in the local stores (no need to worry about reading menus - they are usually provided in at least English and sometimes more languages). Following the general outline of Icelandic food (in English), there is a handy table of many kinds of food, given in Icelandic, English, French, German and Swedish:

The Shopper´s Guide to Icelandic food

I have been working on a similar list on and off for a couple of years, but I really see no need for my list when there is already one out there.

Hung haddock – Sigin ýsa

This is an acquired taste, much like Finnan Haddie, which is also a traditional Icelandic way of preserving haddock, only we call it reykt ýsa (smoked haddock). Because haddock does not take well to salting like it cousin, the cod, it is usually either smoked or "hung" when it needs preserving.

Take one haddock, approx. 1 to 1 1/2 kilo, and remove the head and guts, or ask the fishmonger to do it for you. Do not scrape off the slime.

This is best done in cold but not frosty weather. Hang the fish in the shade for anything from 12-20 days, depending on how big the fish is and how strong you want the flavour to be. Take care not to dry it completely, because then you have made stockfish which requires soaking if you plan to cook it or much beating if you want to eat it raw. Hung haddock should be firm but not dry.

Before cooking, remove the tail and fins and tear off the skin. Cut into pieces and drop into boiling salted water and cook for about 10 minutes. Serve with plain boiled potatoes and butter or tallow, or, if you can get it, the fat that melts from hangikjöt when it is cooked. Also good served with bechamel (white) sauce.