Chow Down to Eurovision 2015 - Iceland

To borrow a line from the gorgeous Icelandic diva Asa we have Big Kisses from Iceland!

The inspiration for the Chow Down to Eurovision dishes come from many places, my own travels, cookbooks, YouTube videos and sometimes just passing comments as with today's offering.

On an evening out for a Eurovision group reunion and Ott Lepland concert eve dinner, Adele mentioned they had good hot dogs in Iceland and that was enough to get the ball rolling.

I had to find out...is it true? (see what I did there?)

Are Iceland's hot dogs really that special? 

And yes, it is true...on the internet, people do think Iceland's hot dogs were pretty good.

The secret may be that apparently there is lamb in their wieners rather than just the traditional pork or beef. 

Not having access to a good Icelandic sausage (story of my life) never fear dear readers I put the Don't Boil The Sauce philosophy into action and just made the bloody thing up!

The lamb mince I get from the farmer's market has a pretty decent amount of fat in it so with that quality of flavour if you can't get lamb in your sausage you will damn well get it all over it!

Iceland Hot dogs

Ingredients

• 6 long thin frankfurters
• 150g lamb mince
• 1 small brown onions, chopped
• 3 rashers bacon
• Grated cheese
• Tomato sauce
• Whole grain mustard
• 6 hot dog buns (I'm sorry Mary Berry I didn't make my buns this time)
• Gherkins

Method

• Warm Frankfurts in a water bath/saucepan (don't boil or the skins will break)
• Slice bacon into 1-2cm piece, fry in a frypan with a splash of oil
• Remove bacon from the frypan
• Add the chopped onion to the frypan and soften
• Add the lamb mince
• When the lamb is just about cooked add the Frankfurts with 1 tbsp of the cooking water
• Toast or warm the hotdog buns
• Add Frankfurts to bun, top with lamb and onion mix, bacon, cheese, tomato sauce and mustard
• Serve with gherkins

I wonder what the drink of choice is in Iceland?

Iceland was represented in Vienna by Maria Ólafs who after a shaky performance in the second semifinal placed 15th and failed to qualify for the final. Iceland's first absence in a Eurovision final since 2007.

I suspect nerves and the pressure played a part for Maria which can disrupt a singer's control as your body is your instrument. 

Maria clearly has a great voice and can sing as demonstrated at Euro Fan Cafe the night after the semi final when she appear with Hera Bjork (2nd video below)

A dear friend did not recognised her at first and suggested to part of the Icelandic team that her voice was so good they should think of her for Junior Eurovision! 

What is Icelandic for awkward??

Previous Iceland Chow Down to Eurovision:

2014 Pollapönk Battenberg

2013 Rúllupylsa-rolled sausage

Chow Down to Eurovision - 2014 Iceland

Gott kvöld, I hope the jet lag is well under control as we have made it to Iceland.

The dishes in Chow Down to Eurovision range from authentic traditional to just a homage to the contestant or country, so really anything goes if I can create some form of a link.

Iceland will be represented by a Battenberg cake that almost made itself when I first saw the Icelandic contestants, Pollapönk.

You never know if we searched hard enough we may find that the Battenberg cake is all the rage in Iceland......or will be.

Pollapönk

 I'm not sure which one is Jeff but I do hope he manages to stay awake!

In 1992 Iceland went for bold solid colours with Heart 2 Heart and they did alright out of it, they came 7th.

Part of the reason I was also so keen to do a Battenberg was that I was given a tin for Christmas by AB's Aunt.

I had fallen in love with the tin ever since I had seen Mary Berry use one on the Bake Off....yep me and gadgets again.

Pollapönk Battenberg

This recipe comes from the maker of the tin, with a few adjustments from me

Ingredients

• 175g  butter
• 175g caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 175g Self raising flour
• Few drops of food colouring in appropriate colours
• 3 tbsp. jam (any flavour I had some apple, sieve it to remove lumps)
• 350g pre made fondant (I used fondant as I'm not a huge marzipan fan)

Method

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 °C
• Assemble, grease and flour the Battenberg pan
• Cream together the butter and sugar until light and creamy
• Gradually add the beaten eggs
• Fold in the flour
• Divide the mixture into 4 equal amounts
• Put a few drops of food colouring into the separate mixtures and gently mix until desired colour is achieved
• Spoon each mixture into separate sections of the tin
• Bake for approximately 30 - 35 minutes, or until evenly coloured and firm to the touch
• Allow the cake to cool in the tin
• If the cake has risen above the top of the tin, use a serrated knife to cut across the top to remove excess cake (I think less batter is a better option but need to work out the amounts)
• Remove the cake from the tin
• When completely cold, brush the jam onto the long sides of the cakes and join
• Brush the jam over all the long sides
• Roll out the fondant to a rectangle large enough to go around the cake
• Place the cake onto the fondant so the one edge is lined up to the edge of the marzipan and completely wrap the marzipan around the cake.
• Trim away any surplus fondant and to make a neat(ish) cake, just trim both ends with a clean knife.
• I gave the fondant a distressed look and brushed on some silver petal dust for some extra glamour

Iceland qualified for the final of Chow Down to Eurovision 2013 with a tasty lamb flap luncheon roll, will they get there again?

Pollapönk will bring us one on the best themed songs this year, No Prejudice....I wonder if that message alone will be enough for Eurovision 2015 to be held in Iceland.

Gangi þér vel!

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!