Icelandic Fiskur, and more

Iceland is a fabulously beautiful, clean, wild country. We spent 3 full days and 4 nights there, and had a blast! Being at 66° North latitude, they don't grow much in the way of veggies – but they do harvest and eat a LOT of fish and other seafood. Icelandic cod is a touchstone of the industry, but they also harvest deep water catfish (a.k.a. Wolf fish, haddock, langoustine, arctic char (a kind of salmon), halibut and other cold water marine fish.

The recipe below is a very traditional Icelandic dish that uses leftovers – fish and potatoes – to make a filling, tasty meal for a hungry fisherman and his family. In America, very few of us have leftover fish – it's too expensive!  Making this dish from scratch, though, is simple enough, and well worth the little effort.

This is called a stew, but you've never seen stew this thick! It's really a crust-less fish and potato pie, especially the way I was served it at the Reykjavik Fish Restaurant.

Plokkfiskur (mashed fish) Fish-Potato Pie

Plokkfiskur isn't a very exciting name, is it? Especially the translation  - mashed fish. Kind of literal though, as you'll see. I've Americanized things somewhat to make the dish more of a complete meal, by adding frozen green peas or other veg to the mixture. This serves 4-6 easily.

1-1/2 lbs Haddock or Cod (I used equal amounts of both fish)

1-1/2 lbs Potatoes, peeled and roughly cut up

1 White Onion, diced

2-3 Tbsp Butter

2-3 Tbsp Flour

1-2 cups Milk

Salt and pepper to taste

(Optional but very good – 12 oz thawed frozen peas)

Chives or green onion dice for garnish

Boil the potatoes until tender.

At the same time, bring another pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add the fish, and after the water returns to a boil, take the pot off of the heat, cover, and let it sit until the potatoes are ready. The fish will be perfectly cooked.

Remove the fish from the pot and cut/flake it into pieces. In a large bowl combine the fish bits, and cooked, roughly 'smashed' potatoes. You want the potatoes to still be in pieces, not mashed. Fold in the peas or other veggies if you're using them.

Sauté the onion in a pan. Add the butter to melt, then add the flour to make a roux. Cook for a minute to get rid of the floury taste. Add the milk a bit at a time and whisk to make sure there are no lumps. Cook the roux until it's pretty thick.

Fold the onion roux into the fish/potato mixture. Liberally salt and pepper to taste. Spoon into a wide baking dish, garnish with chives or green onion, and slide under the broiler for a few minutes to get a nicely browned crust. Serve with dark rye or similar bread.

Although darn near perfect as originally conceived, this simple dish is open to lots of modification! Add more veg. Try different fish – I think smoked haddock or salmon would be great; so would non-smoked salmon. You can also give the dish some serious spice flavor with a curry powder or Cajun/Creole spice blend, or even just a nice 24/7 blend.

Best Fish & Chips Ever! 

Sally and I are real fish & chips aficionados. Cod, plaice, haddock; battered or breaded, we love 'crunchy fish' with fried potatoes or yams. We've eaten them a lot of places around Fort Myers and Florida, as well as England, and we do have our favorites.

Then we went to Iceland and Scotland. 

Our first recommended restaurant -- Icelandic Fish & Chips, is an organic bistro kind of place by the Old Harbor in Reykjavik. I had spelt flour battered Wolf fish with what we would call Home Fries.

Sally had the spelt battered Cod with a few potatoes and a Mango salad.

Very interesting, and tasty. Spelt, an ancient European grain, gives the batter a unique nuttiness. The dishes were accompanied by a couple of Skyronnaise – skyr yogurt instead of mayonnaise-based dips; a supposedly 'spicy chili' dip and a basil-herb dip, both excellent flavors. Both dishes were around $18-20 or about 2000 kronar.

The next day we ate at the Reykjavik Fish Restaurant, which we discovered while wandering around the old part of town.This place has THE best fish & chips that Sally and I have ever tasted:

This is also the place where I discovered the fish-potato pie. Again the meals were in the $20-25 range.

Our last dinner in Iceland was at the Lava Restaurant, adjacent to the Blue Lagoon resort spa. Google “Blue Lagoon Iceland” to see what we experienced for the afternoon. After relaxing in the geothermal-heated, silica-rich waters we decided to experience the on-site Lava Restaurant. The cuisine was 5-star and worth the $66 per plate price. Sally had what they called Icelandic deep-water ocean catfish (I later discovered this "catfish" is a local name for Wolf Fish), which was similar in taste and texture to cod.  I had the most exquisite plate of lamb I've ever tasted. Cost?  $66 per plate. 

  

This is the 'right' kind of restaurant, IMHO.  Rather than trying to baffle you with a 12 page menu of a hundred mediocre dishes, they have 5 Starters, 5 Main course dishes with sides, and 5 Desserts.  Each and every item is cooked to perfection and plated with real artistry!!!  

Rúllupylsa

I have to tell you about this unique kind of sausage that I discovered in an Icelandic mini-market. It's derived from a Danish sausage with a similar name and construction (until WWII Iceland was a Danish possession, but when the Nazis invaded Denmark, the Icelanders declared themselves separate and neutral).

Start with lamb or mutton flanks – the soft belly meat, cut into large, thin-ish slabs. Crisscross a number of slices – think meat layered like plywood. Sometimes sliced onions are added between layers of meat, other times each layer is rubbed with a spice blend.

This layered meat is then rolled up, tied tightly, and cooked – boiled, smoked, pickled, etc. Then it is placed between two heavy weights and pressed until it is dry and cool. Slice it crosswise “bologna thin”, and lay a slice on top of dark rye bread as an appetizer or sandwich filling (that's what I used it for).