Plokkfiskur

Ingredients

• Cod — fillet700 g
• Potatoes700 g
• Onion1
• Butter60 g
• Flour40 g
• Milk500 ml
• Mustard1 tsp
• Rye bread — to serve200 g
• Chives20 g
• Salt and pepperto taste

Salt and spices grow more slowly than the rest: doubling a dish does not double the pepper.

Weight converts to ounces and volume to cups. Grams of flour are not turned into cups, because that depends on how tightly it is packed.

Method

1. 1

   Boil the potatoes in their skins until tender, peel them and cut them into large pieces.

   25 min

2. 2

   Poach the cod in salted water for eight minutes, lift it out and flake it by hand, removing bones and skin.

   15 min

3. 3

   Fry the onion in butter until soft, stir in the flour and cook it two minutes, stirring.

   6 min

4. 4

   Pour in the milk in a thin stream, whisking continuously, and bring the sauce to the thickness of cream.

   8 min

5. 5

   Stir in the mustard, salt and pepper, add the fish and potato and warm everything through for five minutes.

   7 min

6. 6

   Mash with a fork to a coarse, uneven texture in which the pieces are still recognisable, and scatter with chives.

   4 min

About the dish

The dish is made from yesterday: boiled cod and boiled potato left from lunch, brought together in a béchamel. In Iceland this is not a sign of poverty but an ordinary weeknight supper.

The fish is picked apart by hand rather than with a fork: fingers find the bones a fork misses. There should be no bones at all in the finished dish.

It is served with rúgbrauð, the dark rye bread, often sweetish and steamed. The contrast between salty fish and sweet bread is part of the design.

Worth knowing

• — Do not mash it to a purée. The point is fish and potato pieces still recognisable under the sauce.
• — Haddock and coley work the same way. Salmon does not: it is too rich and overpowers the milk sauce.
• — The leftovers are baked under cheese the next day — in Iceland that counts as a dish of its own rather than a reheat.

Nutrition

Per serving at the base yield, calculated from the ingredients rather than measured in a lab.

Calories

480 kcal

Protein

38 g

Fat

18 g

Carbs

42 g

More from Iceland

• Kjötsúpa — A clear lamb soup with root vegetables and barley. One pot, four ingredients, three hours.