Most of the recipes are conceived for one woman and a child.
The dishes are normally easy to make, and intended to enable the woman to spend as much time as possible with the child. The child can also lend a hand in the cooking. The portions are more often than not designed to leave ample leftovers. In the event of any doubts regarding the recipes or questions on these dishes, the reader is welcome to contact the narrator. It should be pointed out, however, that the narrator is not always responsible for the recipe herself. Examples of this include the snow buntings grilled by foreigners in the highlands and whale steaks. There are many more recipes to be found in the story than those listed here and the narrator will be happy to provide them upon request (e.g. lemon chicken with olives).
It is impossible to determine the exact source of these recipes; some may even have come straight out of the narrator’s neighbour’s cook book.
Two of the recipes are designed for funeral receptions, others are conceived for a man and a woman. When a woman cooks for a man or a man for a woman, they generally put more effort into it. In these cases the recipes are also more elaborate. The amount of leftovers will be determined by the state of development of their relationship. FRIED FISH IN BREADCRUMBS AND ONIONS
Fried haddock in breadcrumbs and onions is a classic Monday dish. However, fish is often fresher in shops on a Tuesday. Naturally, there are a number of alternatives to the traditional halibut and a welcome variation can be pan-fried catfish or brown trout. Catfish is related to wolf-fish but is a darker, savoury fish that reminds some of monkfish. Catfish never fails to catch the eye as it lies on display on the fishmonger’s iced steel tray. As most people know, it has beautiful leopard skin which has been used in, among other things, the design of handbags and skirts. Instead of the famous Paxo Golden Crumb pack, you can use home-made breadcrumbs, which are thicker and give the fish a crispier crust. That is because the fish itself does not touch the pan and the fat goes into the breadcrumbs. Fry the onion in a dab of butter in the pan and a splash of olive oil. Remove the onion from the pan when it turns golden brown. Fry both sides of the wolf-fish fillet for a few minutes. The fish should be fried over high heat in a mixture of olive oil and butter until it acquires the colour of a sunny golden shore. Season. Serve with white or barley rice and fresh green salad with tomatoes and cucumber. Make a dressing for the salad with honey, Dijon mustard and olive oil. It is good to mix brown and white rice. Brown rice is a lot slower to cook than normal rice, however, and normally needs to boil for an hour. THICK WILD GAME SAUCE (WITH GOOSE)
Goose broth, ½ litre of water, salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon of redcurrant jelly, cream. Pour the goose broth into a dripping-pan that will siphon the liquefied fat. Season the sauce according to taste. Since the sauce has to be thick enough to conceal the tread marks of the car tires left on the run-over bird, it is probably best to use old-fashioned flour to thicken it. Mix a tablespoon of flour with several tablespoons of water and blend it into the broth. Add one tablespoon of redcurrant jelly into the sauce, whip the cream and mix it with the rest before the sauce is presented. The sauce should be the last dish placed on the dining table adorned with candles. TEA AND BREAD WITH SMOKED SALMON
Tea and bread with smoked salmon is the ideal afternoon snack when someone pops in to see you on the way home from work, for example. Trout is also a perfectly acceptable alternative. Many types of trout can be used: lightly smoked, dung-smoked, birch-smoked, hot-smoked. Many trout breeders have started to do their own smoking at home and you can therefore choose fish from various parts of the country. To add variety, trim some cress over the smoked fish, since cress can be grown in soil or wet cotton on the kitchen window sill all year round. TEA
Tea can never be praised enough as an afternoon refreshment. All research indicates that green tea is the healthiest beverage one can drink. In some places in the Far East one can spend the whole day in tea houses, while a waiter wanders between guests with a pot of boiling water balanced on a bamboo shoot over his shoulder. People who have lived in Britain generally like to have cream biscuits with a yellow or pink filling with their afternoon tea. In Iceland one can use Frón kremkex, which have a white cream inside. For anyone suffering from insomnia, herbal tea with two to three slices of toast would be preferable.
Green tea: 2 tablespoons of tea leaves, 1 litre of boiled water. The teapot is heated by rinsing its interior with boiling water. Place the tea leaves in the pot and pour boiling water over them. Steep for 4 minutes. Pour into cups through a tea-strainer.
Herbal tea: August is the best month for gathering herbs. Pick thyme, white dryas, cinquefoil, mint leaves, yarrow and lady’s mantle. Dry the herbs. It is a good idea to pre-dry them inside a clean pillow case before placing them on a tray to fully dry them. Boil 1 litre of water in a pot, remove it from the heat and put a fistful of the dried herbs into it (2 tablespoons if the herbs have been finely chopped). Close the lid and allow to brew for 15 minutes. Herbal tea can be reheated several times but not reboiled. It is advisable to read up on the healing properties of the various herbs (e.g. their effect on sore throats, stomach problems and ailing hearts) and experiment with dosages. SPINACH LASAGNE
Lasagne is generally on the table on Wednesdays. The recipes on the Barilla packet are fairly easy to follow in themselves. Finding the right size of baking pan can be tricky, though. The following is a vegetarian alternative to the traditional minced meat recipe. Pour the oil from a packet of feta cheese into the pan. Fill the pan with spinach and maybe onion and mushrooms, if there happen to be some in the fridge and it tickles your fancy. Cover abundantly with cream and allow to simmer until the spinach leaves have softened. Arrange a base layer of pasta sheets at the bottom of a baking pan and then pour the spinach mix over it, followed by bits of feta cheese. Then repeat this, layer after layer, according to the size of the baking pan and the number of people eating. Finally, sprinkle grated mozzarella over the top layer. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Eat with good bread and green salad. This is a very nourishing and relatively simple dish which most people can do, and can be just as appealing to the young as the old. WILD GOOSE WITH TRIMMINGS AND A RICH, THICK WILD GAME SAUCE
Wild goose can be cooked in a variety of ways with a vast choice of trimmings. The chef cannot always choose the size of the goose, as the case of the run-over goose clearly demonstrates, but ideally the goose should be neither too big nor too fat. It should preferably be rather young, and young geese are generally recognizable from the reddish-pink colour of their feet and beaks, as well as the softness of their bills. The average goose weighs between three and six kilos and feeds between five and ten people. Since part of the goose’s fat melts away during cooking, it diminishes by a corresponding volume. This recipe is intended for one man and one woman and one can therefore expect ample leftovers. It is best to leave the goose hanging outside for several days after it has been shot or killed by other means. Collect the goose from your balcony and pluck it without tearing its flesh. Once the goose’s feathers have been removed, the beige colour of its skin is revealed with an interesting argyle pattern. It is best to skim over the bird with a Primus blowtorch, e.g. out in the garage where the primus is kept, or alternatively by using the flame of a candle. Grab one of the goose’s legs and wings, hold it at a comfortable distance from the flame and then swing it to and fro. When you have finished torching it, cut its neck, wings and legs. Then cut into the bird just above its sternum to scrape out the gizzard and remove the gall, heart and liver. Take the goose’s heart, slice it with a sharp knife, rinse out the blood and put it aside for another occasion. The heart can be both roasted with the bird to sharpen the taste of its juice or can be used as part of the stuffing. Then rinse the goose in cold water and wipe it. Once this has been done, you have to decide how to cook it: