Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 - Iceland

Hello, or as they say in Reykjavik Komið þið sæl og blessuð, and welcome to Iceland. Our dish of the day was going to be a pepper biscuit popular at Christmas in Iceland, but as you know the oven is another technical hitch. I have found a way better option though and it has the most awesome name, rúllupylsa. A rolled, stuffed, tied, boiled, pressed and sliced sandwich meat.

 The recipe is based on this video although I am grateful I don't have boxes of recently slaughtered lambs at my supermarket. This will definitely be a regular visitor to our table as it brings back all the memories of a Monday school lunch sandwich with last night's roast lamb.

In honour of the amount of rolling involved in the rúllupylsa our Eurovision bite has just as much rolling, well make that body rolling. Selma placed 2nd in 1999 which is the highest Iceland has ever come in a final. Yvonna won semi-final 1 in 2009 but also came in 2nd on the big night. My other favourite Icelandic entries would be Euroband (a Eurovision tribute band), the power house Hera Bjork, and the classic Paul Oscar all clad in PVC and bejewelled.

Weird trivia I almost won her dress on eBay years ago, I don't think it's my colour though.

Rúllupylsa-rolled sausage
Ingredients

• 2 lamb flaps or bellies
• 2 brown onions
• 1/2 bunch parsley
• 2-3 sprigs rosemary
• 1 thumb ginger
• 1/2 tsp. all spice
• 1 glove garlic
• 2 tbsp. salt (see note)
• Kitchen string
• Weights or pot of water to press sausage

Method

• Remove the ribs from the flaps
• Remove as much fat as you want remembering it wont render away when boiling and will be part of the finished sausage.
• Lay the 2 flaps on top of each other skin side out, you can square them up but I didn't bother.
• Chop the onion, parsley, rosemary and put in a bowl
• Grate the ginger and garlic into the bowl
• Add the salt and all spice and combine
• Spread the mixture over the top of the flaps
• Roll the flaps tightly to form the sausage
• Tie with kitchen string at about 1-1.5 cm intervals
• Boil in a large pot of water for 1.5-2 hours
• Remove the sausage from the water and place in a baking tray
• Press the sausage overnight or up to 24 hours in the fridge
• You can use anything to weight it down, weights, or a pot of water etc.
• Slice thinly remembering to remove the string
• Serve on toast with mustard, it is delicious
• Note: I had made some salsa verde salt for a dear friend's birthday, and used some leftover for this recipe which I think added to the flavour. The salt is processed in a spice grinder with fresh parsley, basil, coriander, mint, and then dried in the oven.
• The next time I make this I will try and remove as much fat as possible although the mustard does cut through the fat. I will also try making the filling in the food processer to achieve a smoother texture. I'll report back if it's not as good.

 Finally 50 shades of Grey came in handy!

 Malmö will see Eythor Ingi perform Ég Á Líf  will I have another Icelandic performer to add to my list of favourites?

Gangi þér vel!