Fried fish Orly

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.

I'd be the first to admit that this isn't a specifically Icelandic dish, but you can buy it in many diners and restaurants all over the country.

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)
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 coat fish, scampi/langoustines, shrimp or vegetable fritters.

To make fish Orly:
Haddock fillets, boned and skinned, or other white fish – cod or sole is good and anglerfish is divine
flour for dredging

Cut the fish fillets in pieces about 3 by 2 inches. Pat the fish pieces dry, season if you wish and dredge in flour. Dip to coat in the orly batter and fry in a frying pan or a deep-fryer (set temperature at 180 to 200 °C (355 to 390 °F)) for 2-3 minutes. Batter coating should be golden when cooked.

Generally served with chips/fries, cocktail sauce and coleslaw.
I also like to serve it with rice, salad and sweet-and-sour sauce.

Notes:

• Stir peeled Arctic shrimp or finely chopped vegetables into the batter and drop lumps of it into hot oil with a tablespoon. Makes great finger food.
• Cut fish fillets into finger-sized strips, batter and fry. Another great finger food.
• Cocktail sauce, garlic sauce, sweet-and-sour sauce or sweet chili sauce make a good dipping sauce for food in Orly.

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

Using up leftover fish: frying

I have already posted two recipes for using leftover fish: fish pancakes and the humble plokkfiskur, which is currently enjoying something of a renaissance. Here is one more leftover fish recipe, and two more will be posted soon.

You will need:
Enough cooked leftover fish and potatoes to serve four people, cut into bite-sized pieces
Cooked vegetables, if desired
100 g butter or tallow
Salt and pepper
Chives or onions, chopped

Heat the butter in a frying pan until it stops foaming. Gently fry the fish and potatoes and onions (if using) in the butter until heated through and slightly browned. Do not scramble the food around in the pan much – the fish pieces should be intact when served. Flavour with salt and pepper to taste, and if you’re using chives, sprinkle them over the dish before serving.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Fried cod cheeks

10 cod cheeks
1 egg white, beaten until it begins to froth slightly
Bread crumbs with salt and pepper to taste
200 g butter or margarine

Cut the cheeks away from the heads if needed. Clean well (scrape off the slime under cold running water) and pat dry. Dip the cheeks in the egg white and dredge in the breadcrumbs. Fry in the butter until golden brown. Sprinkle salt and pepper over them and serve with hot, poached potatoes.
May also be cooked in the oven.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Fried herring

6-10 fresh herrings, heads removed, gutted and cleaned
2 tbs flour
2 tsp salt
½ tsp ground white pepper
100 g butter or margarine

If the herrings are large, butterfly them, otherwise leave them whole. Heat a frying pan with the butter. Mix together flour, salt and pepper and dredge the herring in the mixture. Fry the herring in the pan until golden brown. Serve with cooked potatoes and white sauce with vegetables

This recipe also works with mackerel.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Flatbread II - Flatbrauð II

There is already one recipe for flatbread on this blog, but I came across another one that I thought would be interesting to post for comparison. The first recipe, which is the basic, traditional recipe, is just rye flour, salt and water, but this one is more elaborate, and would most likely have been made only in richer households, since it contains three types of flour, The use of a raising agent should also mean lighter bread.

200 g whole-wheat flour
200 g bread or all-purpose flour
200 g rye flour
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
450-500 ml milk

Mix together all the dry ingredients. Bring the milk to the boil. Add the milk to the dry mix, stirring it in with a wooden spoon while it is too hot to touch and then knead it. When fully kneaded (smooth and even), divide into 10 pieces. Flatten and cut out into round pieces to fit the size of the skillet. Prick and bake on each side until the bread looks dry.

Steikt síld - Fried herring

This recipe also works with mackerel and other fish of the herring family, just adjust the cooking times according to the size of the fish.

Serves 2:
2-4 fresh, whole herrings (depending on size)
1 medium onion
40 g butter or margarine or equivalent in vegetable oil
3-4 tbs rye flour or wheat bran
1/2 – 3/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground white pepper
1/2 lemon
Parsley for garnishing

Clean the herrings (or get your fishmonger to do it): remove all innards and membranes from the body cavity, remove the spine and bones from the insides, cut off the tail and fins, scrape the slime from the skin. Remove the head if you would rather not have it on, but don‘t fillet the fish.

Peel and slice the onion. Mix together the flour or bran and the salt and pepper. Melt and heat half the butter and fry the onion in it until slightly browned. Set aside.

Put the remaining butter in the pan and heat. Roll the herrings in the flour mixture and put in the pan. Brown at medium-high temperature, lower the heat and continue frying for 3-5 minutes on each side. Remove and set aside.

Reheat the onion and spread over the herrings. Arrange lemon wedges around the fish and garnish with parsley.

Serve with boiled potatoes.

Breaded lamb cutlets - Steiktar kótilettur í raspi

You can use either rib cutlets or leg cutlets to make this dish. This was one of my favourite Sunday dishes when I was growing up, and remains a comfort food for me.

The recipe works with pork or veal cutlets as well, but the traditional meat is lamb.

750 g of rib half-cutlets or leg cutlets of lamb
2 egg whites or 1 egg and 2 tbs milk
3 tbs bread crumbs (we generally use Paxo brand crumbs, but home-made or other brands are fine as long as they are unflavoured)
2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp pepper*
100 g butter or margarine
20 g butter

1-2 onions
extra butter as needed
2-3 tbs water

Traditionally, the cutlets are beaten with a meat mallet, but if you have nice, tender lamb, it really isn't necessary.

Set up a mise-en-place: frying pan on the stove, dish with bread crumbs and spices, dish with egg, dish with cutlets.

If using egg whites, whip them until they begin to froth. If using a whole egg, break and stir vigorously with the milk until slightly frothy. Mix together the bread crumbs and salt and pepper.

Melt the butter/margarine in the pan and when it is hot, start frying the cutlets: coat each cutlet with egg and then with bread crumbs and drop into the pan. When the crumbs on top begin to look damp, turn over. When both sides are evenly browned, put pats of butter on top of each cutlet and fry over low heat for about 10 minutes. Leg cutlets need longer cooking than rib cutlets. Remove the cutlets and keep warm in the oven until the onions are ready.

Alternatively, arrange the cutlets in a single layer in an oven-proof dish and bake for 30-40 minutes at 180°C, turning twice. Dot with butter for the last 10 minutes.

Slice the onions, turn up the heat and brown the onions in the remaining butter, adding more of needed. When golden, add water and cook until it evaporates.

Arrange the cutlets on a platter and either pour the onions over the cutlets or serve on the side in a bowl. Serve with fried or boiled potatoes and fresh or cooked vegetables, rhubarb jam and cooked green marrow peas for an authentic Icelandic flavour. I also love mushrooms fried in butter with this dish, but that's not traditional, and, strictly speaking, neither are fresh vegetables.


Note:
* for seasoning, I add Aromat and a spice mixture called Kød & Grill, both made by Knorr. If Aromat and Kød & Grill isn't available, you can use Accent and Season-All, or just use the basic salt and pepper.

Crullers or twisted doughnuts - Kleinur

While technically they are everyday pastries, I think kleinur deserve to be included in the Christmas fare. I have added a second recipe for those who do not have access to hartshorn powder.

In many homes in Iceland a large cooking pot lurks in a kitchen cupboard. Its sides are black with burnt-in fat, and a guest might be excused for thinking that their hosts simply forgot to throw it away. Occasionally, in some homes as often as once a week, this pot will be pulled out from its hiding place and put to good use for frying doughnuts in. It is not unusual for a doughnut-maker to make a double or even triple recipe in one session.

Twisted doughnuts are not a specifically Icelandic phenomenon, but neither are they as common in other countries. Making these delicacies is no small undertaking. It is time consuming and hard work, and therefore the batches are usually large to save time and effort.

This is not a good recipe if you have never deep-fried anything before, as the frying fat must to be very hot, and certain precautions must be taken to avoid accidents. They include not letting the hot oil get into contact with water, never leaving the frying pot or deep-fryer unattended, and, in case of accidents, having a fire-blanket and/or fire extinguisher at hand. An experienced doughnut maker can make this look as easy as A-B-C, but don't be fooled, and don't try this unless you are used to deep-frying and know the rules!

I am including 2 recipes, one with hartshorn and one without it, as hartshorn seems to be quite difficult to find outside Europe. Both recipes are mixed and handled in the same way.

Ready to fry dough and fried kleinur.

1st recipe:
500 g flour
40 g margarine/butter, soft
2 tsp baker's ammonia/hartshorn salt (ammonium carbonate)
2 medium eggs
1 tsp baking powder
150 ml milk, sour milk or buttermilk
150 g sugar
2 tsp essence of cardamom

2nd recipe:
1 kg flour
150 g butter
250 g sugar
3 eggs
4 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3 tsp powdered cardamom
a few drops of vanilla essence
250 ml buttermilk or cream

Mix together dry ingredients. Mix in the margarine/butter and then eggs and milk/cream, followed by the essence of cardamom or vanilla essence. Knead into a fairly soft dough. Avoid over-kneading, as this will make the doughnuts tough.

Making the twist.

Roll out the dough until fairly thin (2-3 millimeters thick), cut into strips (these should be anything from 5-10 centimeters wide, depending on weather you want small or big doughnuts) and then cut diagonally across the previous cuts to make diamond shapes. Cut a small slit in the centre of each diamond and gently pull one end through the slit, to make the twist in the doughnuts.

Heat the frying fat. It must be very hot, and will have reached the right temperature when a doughnut browns and cooks through in about 1-1 1/2 minutes.

Genuine Icelandic twisted doughnuts are fried in sheep tallow, which leaves a special taste, but this is now considered unhealthy because of all the saturated fat. Use instead about a litre of vegetable cooking fat that can be heated to a high temperature, for example canola or coconut oil. The doughnuts will not have that special tallowy taste, but neither will they clog up your arteries quite as much.

When they reach this colour, remove from fat.

Note:
Most deep-fryers can not get the oil hot enough for frying kleinur - but they are safer than using a pot on the stovetop. If you do use a fryer, heat the oil to the maximum temperature, and allow the oil a short time to heat up again after each round of doughnuts.

Interesting tidbit:
I found an American recipe for twisted doughnuts in The Little House Cookbook by Barbara M. Walker (New York, N.Y., Harper & Row, 1989). The recipe is taken from an old American cookbook, and although the twisting method is quite different, the recipes themselves are clearly related.

Every-day pancakes – Lummur/Klattar

"Klattar" mean "pats", an appropriate name for these pats of dough. "Lumma" (the singular form of "Lummur") is sometimes used to refer to something that is old fashioned, especially when referring to outdated music.

My mother is an expert at making these mini pancakes. Unlike the large, thin pancakes that are served rolled up with sugar or whipped cream and jam, these small, thick ones taste best sprinkled with sugar, still warm from the skillet, with a glass of cold milk. A variation on the basic recipe is fish-pancakes.

150 ml flour
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
150 ml milk (or more as needed)
1 tbs sugar
25 g margarine/butter
150 ml rice pudding or porridge
1-2 tbs. raisins (optional)

Melt the margarine/butter on the skillet over low heat. Allow to cool slightly. Sieve flour and baking powder together into a bowl. Add sugar and rice pudding or porridge and mix well. Add half the milk and mix. Add the egg and the rest of the milk, and then the melted margarine/butter, and the raisins (if you are using them). The dough should be thick enough not to run much on the pan, and yield thick pancakes.

Heat the skillet to medium temperature. Put the dough on the skillet with a tablespoon. You should be able to fry 3-4 "lummur" at once. Turn over with a spatula. Bake until light brown on both sides.
Serving suggestion:
-Put the pancakes on a plate in layers and sprinkle some sugar on top of each layer. Serve fresh with sugar, jam or syrup.

Skonsur - Thick pancakes/pan-fried bread

The word "skonsa" (the singular form of "skonsur") is the same word as "scone" in English. We Icelanders use the word to refer to a kind of thick pancake. The taste is similar to American breakfast pancakes, but we serve them differently. We usually cook them on the same kind of skillet as we use to make the delicious Icelandic pancakes.

250 g bread flour
4 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tbs sugar
40 g margarine, melted
250 ml milk
2 eggs

Mix together the dry ingredients. Add the eggs and melted margarine, and thin with milk. Stir until smooth. Pour on a greased skillet and fry on both sides at low temperature. Cakes should be like thick pancakes.
-serve cold with any kind of topping that is good with bread: cheese, slices of meat, salads, etc.
-make a sandwich-cake: make a mayonnaise/sour-cream based salad (shrimp, tuna, egg, salmon, etc.), and layer with whole pancakes. (More on sandwich-cakes later).
-serve warm like American pancakes, with butter and syrup

Halibut steaks - Lúðubuff

Here's one way to prepare my favourite fish.

1 1/2 kg. Halibut, whole (or turbot, sole or other flat fish if you can't get halibut)
4 tbs flour
2 tsp salt
1/3 tsp ground pepper
150 g oil, butter or margarine
100 g onion

Take one small, whole halibut. Cut off the head, tail and fins. Scrape off the slime and loose scales under cold, running water. Cut the fish into slices, about as thick as your thumb is wide. Mix together flour, salt and pepper. Coat the slices with flour mixture and fry in the hot fat until done (3-4 minutes on each side). Remove from the pan and arrange the steaks on a serving dish. Slice the onions and brown in the fat, remove and put on top of the fish. Pour some water on the frying pan, roll it around and pour over the fish. Serve with cooked potatoes, green salad and lemon wedges.
-Try grilling the fish steaks: cut into large cubes and thread onto skewers with onion pieces, fresh mushrooms and pieces of red bell pepper (capsicum).

Icelandic Christmas bread – Laufabrauð

Fried leaf breads. The top two have patterns made with a leaf-bread cutter, the third is hand cut:



My father's extended family usually gather together at the beginning of December to make Laufabrauð, spending a whole day kneading, cutting and frying, before sharing a festive meal. There are usually 12-15 of us working together, turning out a couple of hudred of these flat, decorated breads in one day. The bread gets divided evenly between the families, who take it home and store until Christmas.

This year’s gathering is tomorrow, so here is a recipe and I will try to remember to take photos to post.

These deep-fried, thin wheat breads are traditionally cut with intricate decorative patterns, and are mostly eaten at Christmas. The tradition of making Laufabrauð has its roots in the northern part of Iceland, but has spread all over the country. Many bakeries now sell ready-made Laufabrauð, or pre-kneaded and cut dough that only needs decorating and frying, but nothing beats making it at home from scratch. Some people make it with whole-wheat flour or rye flour, and others put caraway seeds in it.

1 kg wheat flour
30 g sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
500-600 ml milk, scalded
1 tbs butter/margarine

frying fat (preferably sheep's tallow)
A large cooking pot for frying (should be tall, so as to avoid splattering)

Mix together the dry ingredients. Heat the milk to boiling and melt the butter in it. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. Knead into a ball of dense dough. Roll into sausage shapes and store under a slightly damp cloth (it dries out quickly otherwise). Cut or pinch off portions and flatten with a rolling pin. These breads are traditionally very thin - a good way to tell if the dough is thin enough is to check if you can read the headings (some say the text!) of a newspaper through it. Cut into circular cakes, using a medium sized plate as a guide to ensure even size. If you have to store them un-fried, stack them up with baking paper between the layers, put in a plastic bag and refrigerate. Decorate by cutting out patterns.

A raw leaf-bread, hand-cut:



Heat the fat in a deep, wide pot. It's ready when it starts to smoke. Prick the cakes with a fork to avoid blistering, and drop into the fat, one at a time, taking care that they do not fold. The cakes will sink as you drop them into the fat. When they resurface, pick up with a handy tool (such as a steak fork) and turn over. They are ready when golden in colour, and it only takes a few seconds to fry each one. Remove from the fat and put on a piece of kitchen paper to drain. It's good to press a plate or something similar on top of the cake as it is put down, to ensure that it will be flat. Stack up and allow to cool. When cool, stack in a cookie tin. Stored in a cool, dry place, leaf bread will keep for months - if you can keep you hands off it!




Serving Suggestions:
- Serve at Christmas/New Year with traditional hangikjöt (smoked lamb), rjúpa (ptarmigan) or smoked pork.
- Don't bother to re-knead the cuttings - they dry out very quickly. Fry them and eat as a snack. Some people have started making snacks out of leaf bread - cut into strips and fried, they make an excellent change from potato chips/crisps and nachos.
- Try serving the bread with pancake syrup (I have not tried this, but I'm told it's good)

Crumbed fish - Steiktur fiskur í raspi

This is an old family favourite. Some variation of this dish can be had in many roadside diners thay serve more than the traditional hamburgers, sandwiches and hot dogs.

2 kg fish (cod, haddock, sole, flounder or any other white fish) – skin and bones removed
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg or egg white
a splash milk (optional)
250 g margarine/butter
1 tsp salt
1 tsp fish spice mix (use your favourite mix or substitute with Season-All)
a dash of pepper
1/2 medium onion, sliced

Break the egg and beat to break the yolk, add a splash of milk (if using) and mix well. Mix salt and spice with breadcrumbs. Cut the fish into pieces, across the fillet. Width of pieces can range from 2 1/2 to 5 cm (1-2 inches), depending on appetite. (Just make the pieces uniform in size.)

Set up your workplace:
First, a plate with the fish pieces, then a bowl with beaten egg, then a bowl with breadcrumbs, then the heated frying pan on the stove.

Instructions:
Melt half the margarine/butter (or use equivalent in cooking oil) in a medium hot frying pan. When the margarine stops frothing, add the onion slices to the pan and fry until they are golden. Remove from the pan and add the rest of the margarine/butter.

Now you can start frying the fish: Coat a piece of fish in egg, roll to cover in breadcrumbs, and put on the pan to fry. Continue until all the fish is on the pan. Turn when the underside of the pieces begins to brown, and fry on other side until golden brown.
Arrange the fish pieces on a serving plate, quickly heat the onions through on the pan, and pour onions and the remainder of the frying fat over the fish. If you want the fish to be less greasy, you can serve the onions and fat on the side.
The fish can also be baked if you want to avoid frying it. Should take about 30 minutes in a medium hot oven.

Serve with lemon wedges, a fresh salad and cooked potatoes.

This salad is also good with crumbed fish:

2 med. tomatoes
1/2 cucumber
1 tbs Mayonnaise

Cut tomatoes and cucumbers into 1/2 cm thick slices, then cut slices into narrow strips. Put in a bowl with the mayonnaise and stir to coat the vegetables. Also good with grilled lamb and pork.

Traditional Icelandic fish balls - Fiskibollur

Fish balls are one of the many ways in which Icelanders like to cook fish, and the recipes are numerous. When I was little I loved to eat fish-balls in pink sauce (see recipe below), mostly because of the colour of the sauce.

1 large fillet white fish (cod, haddock and saithe are traditional), skinned and boneless
1 medium onion
2/3 cup flour
1/5 cup potato starch (use cornstarch if potato starch is not available)
1 1/2 tsp salt
2 eggs
milk, as needed

Finely chop or grind the fish fillet and onion. Mix together in a bowl (or just throw both ingredients into a food processor and let it do the work). Add the dry ingredients, mixing well. Add the eggs and then the milk. The fish-dough should be just thick enough to stick together when you form it into balls. Form small balls with two tablespoons or use your hands. Fry in oil or butter over medium heat, until browned and cooked through. Serve with fresh salad and potatoes. Ketchup also goes well with fish-balls.

-If you must have some sauce on your fish-balls, serve with melted butter, brown gravy or cocktail sauce , or make pink sauce.

These are two ways to make pink sauce:
-1. Make basic white sauce and add ketchup until it turns pink.
-2. When the fish balls are just about done, add 250 ml. water to the pan. Take 1 1/2 tbs. flour and 100 ml. water or milk and mix into a smooth paste. When the water in the frying pan boils, add the flour paste and stir well. Add 1 tsp fish stock powder and 2 tbs. ketchup or tomato sauce. Cook for 5 minutes.

Icelandic flat bread – Flatbrauð

Yet another food you are likely to find on the Þorri buffet.

This traditional bread is delicious with butter and a slice of hangikjöt (smoked lamb).

500 g rye flour
1/2 tsp salt
250-300 ml boiling water

Mix the salt and the rye flour. Add some water and knead. Dough should be fairly soft. Roll out thin and use a small plate to cut even sized breads. Prick all over with a fork and bake on top of the stove at medium to high temperature. For authenticity, do not use a griddle or skillet, but put the cakes directly onto the cooking plate (this is both smelly and smoky). Cook on one side until it begins to look dry, then turn over. The bread should have some slight burn spots here and there.
Good with slices of cold meat, such as hangikjöt, ham, or lamb pâté, and delicious slathered with butter.

Someone contacted me with a couple of tips for making flat bread:
-If you make the flat bread in the traditional way, there will be smoke - so do it in a well ventilated area.
-To avoid the breads getting hard, dip them quickly in hot water when you remove them from the pan/hot plate.

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