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!

LEMON BUTTER SAUCE
Carrabbas Copycat Recipe

1/4 cup real butter
2 tablespoons cold butter
3 tablespoons minced yellow onion
1 1/2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons dry white wine
salt and white pepper

In a medium sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Then remove from heat and let sit until the milk solids settle to the bottom. Once milk solids settle skim the clear butter from the top and discard. Take 2 tablespoons of the clarified butter and saute onions and garlic until onions are golden brown. Once onion and garlic are sauteed, stir in lemon juice and white wine. Bring to boil. While mixture is about to boil, season  with salt and pepper. Once mixture is boiled let simmer for about 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and swirl sprinkle cold butter until sauce is smooth and butter is melted. Serve over pasta or seafood.

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).

Chicken with Tomato Sauce produced one of the tenderest chicken Ive had. It tastes kind like sweet and sour chicken, except in terms of texture, it is tender soft because of shallow frying for a short time vs. the crispy deep fried version. This recipe came from a Chinese cookbook.

Serves 2

Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes
Total time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into 1/4 inch cubes
2 tablespoon egg white
4 tablespoon corn starch
2 cups peanut oil or vegetable oil
3 tablespoon and 1 teaspoon ketchup
2 tablespoon and 2 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon sesame oil

Tips:

1. The key to this recipe is the tender texture of the chicken, so the shallow frying step will determine how tender the chicken will come out. If you get the oil temperature right, you are much closer to getting it perfect, therefore it helps to get a deep-fry thermometer. To use a thermometer, make sure the tip is inside the oil but doesnt touch the wok or pot, because the wok might be at a higher temperature than the oil.
2. The other key to the tender chicken is to cut the chicken pieces as evenly as possible, this ensures all the chicken pieces will be cooked evenly.
   
3. Once you master the shallow frying to produce extra tender chickens, you can apply this technique to other chicken dishes, or play around with the tomato sauce to adjust it to your liking.
   

Instruction:

1. In a medium mixing bowl, add the chicken cubes, egg white and 3 tablespoon cornstarch. Mix them well using a circular one direction motion.
   
2. To shallow fry the chicken, heat oil in a wok or a soup pot over medium heat to about 200°F. Add the chicken, and use a chopstick to gently separate the pieces. The oil temperature now shouldnt be above 175°F, if it does, remove the wok from heat until temperature drop down. Just when all the chicken pieces are turning white, quickly remove them with a slotted spoon and drain off the excess oil. The chicken should be white on the outside and still be pink in the middle.
   
3. Remove all the oil from the wok, and heat it over high heat, add the ketchup, sugar and 1 tablespoon water, stirring and bring to a boil, mix 1 tablespoon water with 1 tablespoon cornstarch and add it to the sauce. When the sauce thickens, add the chicken pieces and stir well, cook for 1-2 minutes then turn off heat. Check if the chicken is done by cutting into the largest chicken piece and make sure the inside is no longer pink. Mix in the sesame oil and serve.
   

Life just doesnt get any better than when youre eating these tasty steamer clams and sopping up the flavorful sauce with warm crusty bread...

Serves: (4)
Prep Time: 10 min |
Cook Time: 10 min.

Posted: by Sandra

INGREDIENTS

***Steamer Clams:
3 lbs. live steamer clams, cleaned and scrubbed
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
½ medium onion, cut into quarters and julienned
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup good white wine, I used Pinot Grigio
1 tablespoon fresh basil, chopped (or ½ teaspoon dried)
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

***Garnish:
1 green onion, chopped
Fresh parsley, chopped
Fresh lemon wedges

--Warm, crusty bread slices for sopping up sauce

METHOD

Place a steam-insert into a large pot, and add water so it is just below it and heat to boiling (this is to let any remaining sand fall to the bottom of pot, not in your sauce).

Meanwhile, heat a large skillet to medium-high, add olive oil and butter until melted, toss in onions; cooking just a few minutes until translucent, add the garlic and cook 30 seconds longer. Add the white wine (remove from heat source beforehand if using gas burners to prevent flare up). Add the basil, kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper; turn heat down to warm.

Reduce heat under large pot to medium-high. Place the steamer clams inside of insert and cook with lid on for about 4 minutes. Remove lid from pot and most steamer clams should be open, and toss any that are not. Remove insert with clams and gently place clams into large skillet with sauce, spooning sauce over them to ensure flavors are distributed throughout, and cook for 1 minute.

Transfer clams with tongs into pasta-type serving bowls, pour sauce over them, garnish with green onions, sprinkle with fresh parsley, and place lemon wedges on the side, including crusty bread slices for dipping. ~ Enjoy!


**********************************

I was SO excited when I found this recipe!  I love this enchilada recipe, but Ive hardly made it the last year because I hate buying the canned enchilada sauce.  It is full of nasty stuff and I cant find any that dont have hydrogenated oils and and a whole lot of other ingredients unnecessary for enchilada sauce.  I decided I just needed to make my own and discovered it was SO EASY.  This recipe is from the blog Our Best Bites and it made enough for 5 batches of enchiladas.  I wanted to find a can-able recipe, but I just poured it in pint jars and popped them in the freezer to use as I need them.  I made the enchiladas with the sauce the other day and it was amazing!  If youre trying to cut out processed foods and/or just want an awesome enchilada sauce recipe, this is the one!  And your body will feel great after eating it too.



A blender or food processor is a bit of a necessity for this recipe.  Makes about 7-8 cups.  I put about 1.5 cups in each jar and had 5 jars.  You could also spread this over burritos (Cafe Rio style, if youve ever been there), use it as a dip, or whatever your heart desires! She also says she adds 2-3 T. sugar for Cafe Rio style sauce, I left the sugar out so I didnt include it in the recipe.  

Green Enchilada Sauce

2-3 T. olive oil
1 large onion, minced
5-6 cloves garlic, minced
2 green bell peppers, chopped roughly (enough for blender to handle)
1-2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped (depending on your desired level of heat)
1.5 lbs. tomatillos, husked and quartered
1/2 bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
1.5 tsp. kosher salt
1/4 tsp. black pepper
1.5 tsp. cumin
4 c. chicken broth

In a large saucepan or stock pot, heat olive oil over medium heat.  Saute onions and garlic until tender and fragrant.

Meanwhile, combine tomatillos, bell peppers, jalapeno(s), and cilantro in your blender or food processor.  Process until smooth.  Add some chicken broth as needed to break everything up.  You may have to do it in batches depending on the size of your machine.

Pour the tomatillo mixture over the onions and garlic in the pot and add chicken broth, salt, pepper, and cumin.  Simmer 15 minutes to 1 hour, depending on the consistency you want.  I turned mine to medium high and left it for about 20-25 minutes.  It can also be simmered all day in a crock pot/slow cooker.

Serve over tacos, burritos, as an enchilada sauce, or a dip for chips.
Source: Our Best Bites