An Cooking

Halibut has a number of names in Icelandic, reflecting its importance as a food fish. They include flyðra, spraka, lúða and heilagfiski. The last name means “holy fish”, presumably because it was popular Fridays food during the Catholic era.

Halibut grow to a gigantic size: the current record is around 330 kilos. One was recently caught off the coast of the West Fjords that weighed in at 219 kg. and was 248 cm. long. The flesh of these giants is rather coarse, but the flavor is delicious.

750 g halibut
1 tbs flour
Salt and pepper
2-3 onions
100 g margarine
100 g butter
50 ml cream

Fillet and skin the halibut. Cut into 2 cm thick slices.
Mix together flour, salt and pepper.
Slice the onions into rings.

Brown the margarine in a frying pan and fry the onions in it until golden. Remove and set aside. Put the butter in the pan, keeping back a small amount, and brown the butter in the pan. Dredge the fish slices in the flour mixture and brown over high heat for about 10 minutes. Arrange the fish pieces on a serving platter and top with the browned onions.

Deglace the pan with a little water, adding the cream and remaining butter. Strain into a sauce bowl.

Arrange poached potatoes on the platter on one side of the fish, and serve.

From 160 fiskréttir by Helga Sigurðardóttir

Serve 4
Ingredients: 
2 medium aubergines thinly sliced lengthways.


Kufta Mix:
600g minced meat
1 large finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped parsley
1 tbspoon of each, black pepper, cinnamon, chilli powder, salt
1 tspoon freshly grated nutmeg
3 headed tbspoon fine bread crumbs
1 egg


Tomato Sauce:
4-5 chopped tomatoes or 1 can of chopped tomato
2 large garlic cloves
1-2 chopped chillies pepper
3-4 tbspoon olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

                                      Cut eggplants into thin slices lengthways.


  Brush with olive oil, place on a hot tray, grill until both side become golden.

                        
      Mix onion, parsley, minced meat together and put in the food-processor.




    
      
                                                 Chop tomatoes and puree.


                                               Blend garlic cloves and chillies.

Max says this is “the other white meat,”  and that the recipe is also delicious using Grouse,  Ptarmigan, Chicken, or Pork... [I found today that my photograph of Maxs recipe  was nicely featured on 8-14-12 on  http://winemakingtechniques.com/some-simple-easy-wine-recipes]

Posted by Max via Sandra
Prep: 10 mins. |
Cook/Simmer: 2.5 hours

INGREDIENTS:

---Pheasant
· 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus 2 tablespoon butter
· 2 pheasants, cleaned and cut into pieces
· kosher salt and ground pepper to taste

---Vegetables
· ½ onion, chopped
· 1 clove of garlic, minced
· ½ cup celery, chopped
· 10 crimini mushrooms, sliced (not too thin)
· 2 tablespoons butter

---Sauce
· 1 cup ‘good’ white wine
· 2 (10.5 oz.) cans cream of mushroom soup
· 1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce

--Steamed rice, prepared according to directions
--Tomato wedges

METHOD

Add the olive oil and butter in a heavy-bottom skillet and heat to medium-high, and brown the pheasant. Remove to plate, and set aside. In the same skillet, add remaining butter, and toss in the vegetables and saute until onions are translucent. Add the browned pheasant into skillet.

Deglaze with 1 cup of white wine while scraping bottom to release flavorful bits; reduce heat to medium to let wine reduce for 10 minutes. Once wine is reduced, add the cream of mushroom soup and reduce the heat to low; ‘cover’ skillet and let simmer for 2 hours while occasionally stirring.

Serve pheasant in white wine sauce with steamed rice, with sliced tomatoes sprinkled with salt and freshly ground black pepper along side – don’t forget to drink the rest of the wine. - Enjoy!

• White wrapping paper (I bought four rolls because they were fairly small--from Papyrus)
• Decorative paper (gold glitter, gold metallic, white glitter--all from A.C. Moore)
• Scrapbook circle punch 
• Glue dots
• Your imagination
• An appreciation for beauty

For extra punch, I tied a couple of the larger packages with wired, glittery red ribbon.
Its probably the best wrapping anyone has ever done in the history of time.
Has anyone else ever ripped off designed their own wrapping paper before? Have you even wrapped your presents yet?? Why doesnt Target air crazy Target lady commercials year round????

I dont care much for puffin and other sea-birds as food, but many people love them and eat them whenever they can. This recipe resembles the recipe for rock ptarmigan, in that the birds are cooked in milk.

4 puffins
50 g smoked bacon
50 g butter
300 ml milk
300 ml water to taste salt

Puffins should be skinned or carefully plucked and singed. Remove the innards and discard. You can use the breasts alone, or cook the whole birds. Wash well in cold water and rub with salt, inside and out. If you are using whole birds, truss them. Lard the breasts with bacon fat. Brown the birds on all sides, and stuff them tightly into a cooking pot. Heat the milk and water and pour over the puffins. Bring to the boil and cook on low for 1-2 hours (test the birds for softness). Turn the birds occasionally. Remove from the cooking liquid and keep warm while you prepare the sauce.

The sauce:
30 g butter
4 tblsp flour
400-500 ml cooking liquid
to taste salt and pepper
as needed caramel/sauce colouring
to taste redcurrant jelly (optional)
to taste whipped cream

Melt the butter and stir the flour into it like you were making white sauce. Strain the cooking liquid and gradually add to the butter/flour mixture. Add colouring and spices to taste, and redcurrant jelly/cream, if using.
Serve with boiled and/or caramelized potatoes and lightly boiled vegetables, like carrots, peas and brussels sprouts.

Recipe taken from Helga Sigurðardóttirs "Matur & Drykkur", Mál og Menning, Reykjavík, 1986 (1947).