Traditional foods for the Þorri midwinter feast

It's the first day of Þorri today, a day called "Bóndadagur" in Icelandic. It originally meant "farmer's day" but has the additional meaning of "husband's day", which is how modern Icelanders interpret it. On this day it has become a tradition for wives to do something extra special for their husbands, like bring them breakfast in bed, give them flowers or take them out to dinner. The husbands then do the same on "Konudagur" ("wives' day" or "women's day"), which begins the old month of Góa. Thus you could say we Icelanders celebrate two Valentine's Days, although that hasn't stopped florists and chocolate producers from trying to get us to celebrate that as well.

Another tradition for Þorri is for us to look back to the nation's past and dine on some of the old traditional foods that were daily fare for our ancestors. Below is a link to my Þorri post, which in turn has links to all the Þorri recipes I have posted. I am trying to preserve the comments, so I will not be bringing it back to the top. If you want to leave comments, please leave them by the original post.

Þorrablót/Thorrablot

CARROT CAKE MUFFINS

CARROT CAKE MUFFINS – FINALLY A RECIPE WORTH SHARING!

I have been reading, testing, and rejecting recipes for a Carrot Muffin for the longest time. Many of the recipes I found were loaded with Agave nectar, which, by the way, is still sugar! If the recipe didn’t contain grains or sugar, it was dry or (worse yet) complicated to prepare. I had a snow day last week, and took matters into my own hands. I am happy with this recipe for two reasons. It tastes really good, and it can be prepared very quickly in a food processor.

Let me know how you like it.

Enjoy.

INGREDIENTS AND PREPARATION:

2 cups almond flour

½ teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 teaspoons aluminum free baking powder

1 tablespoon Cinnamon

1/2 to 3/4 teaspoon powdered concentrate Stevia, such as KAL Brand or NOW brand.

¼ to ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

1 scant pinch of cloves

PUT ALL THESE DRY INGREDIENTS INTO A FOOD PROCESSOR. PROCESS TO COMBINE.

THEN ADD:

½ cup melted organic butter

1 tablespoon vanilla (no sugar – check the label)

½ cup unsweetened Vanilla Almond Milk (you can use water or organic whole milk)

4 extra large or 5 large organic free range eggs

PROCESS TO COMBINE INTO A SLIGHTLY WET BATTER.

POUR THE BATTER INTO A BOWL OVER:

1 ½ cups grated organic carrots

½ cup chopped raw pecans or walnuts.

STIR TO MIX.

DIVIDE INTO 12 MUFFIN CUPS LINED WITH PAPER OR SILICONE LINERS.

BAKE AT 350 DEGREES FOR 25 TO 30 MINUTES.

Icelandic Christmas recipes

Since the holiday season in upon us I decided to gather together all the Christmas recipes I have published on this blog. I chose to do it this way rather than repost them because the comments get lost when reposting. I plan to make this an annual post, with new recipes added as they come along, so if you have comments, please comment on the recipes themselves, unless you don't mind if your comments go missing every time I repost this list.

So here they are, starting with the Christmas dinner dishes:

Starters or desserts:

• Rice pudding
• Ris a la mande
• Vanilla ice cream

Main dishes:

• Hangikjöt (smoked lamb)
• Pork rib roast
• Roast lamb
• Rock ptarmigan

Side dishes and accompaniments:

• Leaf bread
• Christmas cocktail
• Pickled red cabbage
• Caramel potatoes

Cakes and cookies:

• Gingerbread sandwich cookies 
• Sarah Bernhardt cookies
• Jewish cookies
• Half-moons
• Coconut wreaths
• Siggi's cookies
• Syrup cookies
• Air cookies
• Spice cake with buttercream
• Christmas cake

Rjómaterta III: Púðursykurmarengs - Cream cake III: Brown sugar meringue

This is a simple and impressive fancy cake – if you can avoid breaking the meringue!
If it does break, no matter: simply crush the meringue and layer it in dessert bowls or glasses with the cream, or toss it with whipped cream, fresh fruit and chocolate bits to make a smashed Pavlova.


4 egg whites
400 ml brown sugar

Optional:
1 cup cornflakes and ½ tsp baking powder

For the filling:
Whipping cream
Chocolate bits, chocolate-covered raisins, salted peanuts (all optional)

Whip together the sugar and egg whites (and baking powder if using cornflakes) until sugar is melted and mixture is stiff. If using, fold in cornflakes. Smooth into two greased round baking tins, or put into an icing bag and squeeze onto a cookie sheet covered with baking paper in a circular shape (good idea to make a guide on the paper beforehand with a pencil and a plate). Bake at 150°C for 1 hour. Cool.

To make a simple but tempting cream cake, put whipped cream between the layers a day before serving and refrigerate overnight. Chopped chocolate, chocolate-covered raisins and/or salted peanuts area a good addition to the whipped cream.

Cold bread casserole

Have I mentioned the Icelandic taste for bread dishes? Here is one more:

This casserole, decorated with cucumber and red bell pepper.

Sweet mustard
White (French) bread

4 hard-boiled eggs
1 small can crushed pineapple, minus the juice
15-18 slices of ham, julienned or cut into small squares
1 small Camembert cheese, cut into small cubes
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/2 cup sour cream
1 leek, pale part only, finely chopped (you can also use chives or spring onions)
1 tsp Season-All (or to taste)

Garnish, to be prepared shortly before serving:
Red bell pepper, finely chopped
Green bell pepper, finely chopped
Arctic shrimp, cooked

Smear a thin layer of mustard inside the casserole dish. Remove the crusts from the bread, tear the bread into small pieces and line the casserole dish with it. Mix together the remaining ingredients, except the bell peppers and shrimp. Refrigerate overnight.

Garnish just before serving, or if you garnish right away, make sure the shrimp and bell peppers don’t touch because the shrimp will absorb colour from the peppers. The toppings can be used to make patterns on top of the dish, if desired.

Rjómaterta II: Guðdómlegt Gums - Cream cake II

Once upon a time I promised to publish more recipes for fancy cream cakes, and here is one that’s a favourite with both young and old. The name, Guðdómlegt gums means Heavenly Mess.

4 egg whites
200 g sugar

Whip together until the sugar is mostly melted.

1/2 cup salted peanuts
1/2 cup chopped dates
100 g dark chocolate chips
1/2 tsp baking powder

Fold carefully into the egg-sugar mixture. Bake in 2 round baking tins with detachable bottoms, at 150°C for 1 hour. Cool.

Whip 1/2 litre of cream until stiff. Fold in some quartered strawberries, 1 mashed banana, a handful of salted peanuts and a handful of chocolate-covered raisins. Put between the 2 layers. Decorate with whipped cream, strawberries, salted peanuts and chocolate-covered raisins.

The other recipe

Flatbread III: Potato bread - Kartöfluflatbrauð

Here is a third flatbread recipe.

500 g potatoes, cooked, peeled and cooled
250 g rye flour (or more, if needed)

The amount of rye flour depends on how much moisture there is in the potatoes. Start with the given amount and add more if necessary. Mash the potatoes until smooth, or process in a food processor (take care not to over-process, or they may turn gummy). Knead the rye flour into the potatoes until you have a stiff, dense dough. Whole wheat flour may be mixed in with the rye flour. Roll out the dough into thin, round cakes. Dry-fry the cakes on a griddle or electric hotplate until browned with small burnt-looking spots.

Links to the other recipes:
Most commonly used recipe
Luxury recipe