In honor of a milestone and a recent trip, my thoughts have turned to my sister. She celebrated a milestone event in her life — just after she and her husband returned from a trip to Iceland!
Throughout her life, my sister has traveled. As an “Air Force Brat”, she, Mom and I moved every time Dad was transferred to a different duty station. After graduating from high school, she joined the U.S. Coast Guard, where she met — and married — her husband. Together, my sister and her husband moved — from duty station to duty station across the United States — more times than our family ever did (if I remember correctly).
At some point between their moves, they caught the “cruising bug”, and have been cruising ever since! One of their first cruises (not counting their time in the Coast Guard) was a short cruise down to Mexico for Mom and Dad’s 40th anniversary, and their most recent cruising experience was a series of cruises in the South Pacific — including Australia, New Zealand, and Tahiti earlier this year.
Last month, they branched out from cruising and spent ten days touring Iceland. I know because I just received a couple of postcards that, I believe, were mailed from there! (Thanks for adding to my postcard collection, Sis!)
As soon as I heard about their trip to Iceland, I did a bit of research into Iceland, especially their food. It’s a beautiful place — my kind of place with lots of snow and, of course, ICE! As far as their food is concerned, it definitely reflects the fact that Iceland is an island — LOTS of the food they eat comes from the ocean. (No surprise there!)
Because I’m not much of a “fish eater”, not many of the Icelandic recipes really appealed to me, but I did managed to find one that I might want to try — AND that they might want to try as a way to remember their recent trip to Iceland! It’s a recipe for “Plokkfiskur” (or “plokkan”, as it’s often called) is basically a simple dish, which :served a purpose: to create another meal from leftovers. Without further ado, here’s the recipe:
Plokkfiskur (Icelandic Fish Stew)
Ingredients
500 grams pollock, haddock, coddock, or any other white fish
500 grams potatoes
1 large yellow onion (or 2 small, or 3 even smaller)
50 grams butter
3 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
300 ml milk (or more if you prefer it thinner)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white pepper
For dairy-free version, substitute butter with olive oil and milk with oat milk (or other non-dairy alternatives).
Directions
- Boil and peel potatoes.
- Poach your white fish according to instructions.
- Put aside.
- Sauté onions in butter at medium heat until translucent.
- Add flour to the butter and onions and whisk until it becomes a paste.
- Whisk in milk — a ladle at a time — until it’s a thick sauce. (Congratulations! You have made bechamel!)
- Break up the potatoes and fish and add them to the mixture.
- If you’ve used up all the bechamel and you feel it’s still too thick, you can add milk or the poaching water to thin it out.
- Season to taste!
For the real authentic Icelandic experience, eat with rye bread smothered in butter.
Njóttu máltíðarinnar! (“Enjoy your meal!” in Icelandic)
If you’ve ever been to Iceland and/or tried their “Plokkishkur” (or any other Icelandic food), I’d love to hear from you!