Spinach and Avocado Salad with Feta cheese

Nice and simple salat which goes well with chicken or fish and a glass of white wine, like Gustave Lorentz Riesling Réserve.

200g spinach
150g runner beans
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 avocados, halved and the stone removed
150g feta cheese
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp lemon juice
salt and pepper

Mix the spinach, beans, onion together in a bowl. Scoop the avocado out with the spoon and mix together with the salad. Dress the salad with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Sprinkle the feta cheese on top and serve.

Oatmeal & Rhubarb Scones

This is a great sunday morning treat for the whole family and this particular recipe lends itself to endless possibilities of combinations. I used rhubarb because I had it in the fridge, but you can use whatever you like, for example blueberry jam, raspberry jam or apricot.

500g whole wheat flour
3 tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
200g butter, chilled and cut into little cubes
½ cup granulated sugar
1 cup milk, full fat (nýmjólk)
200g oatmeal
2 eggs
1tsp vanilla extract
zest from 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Line a baking tray with some baking paper (bökunarpappír)

Combine the flour, oatmeal, baking powder and salt in a food processor. Cut the butter into the flour mixture and pulse together until it resembles a sandy flour. Pulse in the sugar. Now add the milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Pulse together until the dough just comes together and if the dough is too dry just add some milk.

Turn out onto a floured surface. Divide into two equal sized pieces and start rolling one at a time into a square 1cm thick. You want to keep the dough from sticking to the surface so sprinkle with some more flour if needed.

Slather the dough with the jam and fold the left side of the dough in toward the center and then the right side. Repeat with the other piece of dough. Both pieces will fit on one baking tray but give them a few centimeters between each other so they don´t bake into each other. Brush with a bit of cream or a beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes or until golden.

While the scones are baking, prepare the glaze. Combine the powdered sugar, lemon juice and lemon zest in a small bowl. Stir until well combined and set aside. When the scones come out of the oven brush them generously with the glaze and let cool. Slice into pieces as big or small as you like.

Asparagus and Gorgonzola Potato Quiche

Once you try this one it is going to be a classic that you do regularly. This quiche goes really well with some fresh salad dressed with some olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper……bon appetit.

500g fresh asparagus
5 sheets filo pastry
50g melted butter
600g potato, peeled
100g cheddar cheese
100g gryere cheese
100g gorgonzola cheese
300ml double cream
3 eggs
handful fresh sage, chopped
½ tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper

Turn on the oven to 190˚C. Start boiling the potatoes in some salted water. Brush the filo pastry with the melted butter and layer into an oven-proof dish (work quickly so the filo pastry doesn´t dry).

When the potatoes are ready, pour off the water and add the cheese to the potatoes in a bowl and mash together. Add the cream, nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Add the eggs and work together with the potato.

Put the asparagus in some boiling salted water for a few minutes until half-cooked and then take them out of the water.

Pour the potato-cheese mix into the oven-proof dish, layer the asparagus over and scatter the sage on top. Brush everything with some melted butter and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes.

Lemon Meringue Pudding

This is a really easy pudding to make.…and cheap, which comes in good hand if you look at what is going on in Iceland with the financial crisis. I am not sure the Icelandic people are going to have the money for deserts for the next few years….so you better learn to love this one :-) . But all jokes aside , this pudding goes really well with ice cream or some whipped cream and a large ice cold glass of milk….yummy.

60g butter
1 ½ dl sugar
grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
2 eggs , separated
1 dl flour
1tsp baking powder
3dl milk

for the meringue:
2 egg whites
40g unrefined sugar (hrásykur)


Preheat the oven to 180˚C. Wisp the yolks, sugar and lemon zest together until fluffy and smooth. Add the milk and lemon juice and whisk together.

Whisk the egg whites in another bowl until stiff and gently fold them together with the lemon mixture. Grease an ovenproof dish with some butter and pour in the mixture, then place it in a deep oven rack and fill in ½ of the way with water and bake for 45 minutes.

When the pudding is ready, make the meringue topping while the pudding cools down a bit. Whisk the egg whites with a little pinch of salt until it forms peaks, then add the sugar and continue to whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Spread the merang on top and run a brulée burner or a little blowtorch over to get the “baked-effect”. Serve with some ice cream, whipped cream or vanilla mascarpone (seeds from 1 vanilla pod and 250g mascarpone cheese)

Lemon Brulée Tart

A little sneak peak from a new project I am working on with my friend, class-mate and very talented photographer Marius Johannessen (www.marius.chiro.no). As all my friends know by now, I am working on a cookbook with my brother (Hlynur Pálmason-the amazing artist-www.hpalmason.com) which is taking a long time......maybe becouse I live in Sweden and he lives in Iceland!! ...but good things come to those who wait. This new project is all about desserts....my favorite, and I will keep you posted on how things are going and when it will be available.....hopefully next summer.

Sweet Pastry:
250g plain flour
125g butter
100g sugar
1 egg

Lemon Filling:
200ml double cream
180g sugar
6 eggs, (2 whole and 4 yolks only)
3 lemons, juiced
icing sugar – to dust

1. To make the pastry, put the butter and sugar in a food processor and whizz until combined. Add the egg and whizz for 30 seconds. Add the flour and process for a few seconds until the dough just comes together. Add a tbsp of milk if the dough seems too dry. Knead lightly on a flour dusted surface, then shape into flat disc, wrap with plastic foil and chill for 30 minutes.


2. Preheat the oven to 190C/fan 170C. Roll out the pastry evenly and line a 20 cm loose-based tart ring. Leave the excess pastry hanging over the edge. Line the pastry with tin foil or baking parchment and put a smaller oven-proof dish or some baking beans into the base, this will stop the bottom crust to rise. Bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and oven-proof dish or beans and bake for another 5 minutes or until the base is cooked and lightly golden brown.


3. whisk the eggs, yolks and sugar together in a bowl until fluffy. Stir in the cream. Finally add the lemon juce, this will thicken the cream.


4. Pour the filling in to the pastry case and place onto the bottom oven shelf. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the filling is almost set. It should be slightly wobbly in the center. Trim the pastry and leave it to cool completely. Dust with icing sugar and run a blowtorch or brulée-burner over the surface to give a brulée effect.

Ice cold Mango Smoothie

This is a real treat to get you going in the morning and if you are a gym-rat like me, you can add a scoop of vanilla protein powder to your smoothie. You can even try different flavors by adding some cardamom seeds or some ground cinnamon.

Serves 4

300g frozen mango
2dl yoghurt
2dl milk
4tbsp fructose, or regular sugar

Put all the ingredients in a blender and pulse for 30 seconds until smooth. Serve ice cold. Holds in the fridge for 24 hours.

Oven-baked Spaghetti with mushrooms

My brother.....the artist who never has any money (as he says) commented that my recipes are too expensive to make, so now I have done one that is not so expensive....well maby a little if you live in Iceland!! But this recipe is really simple to make and can feed a lot of people. The combination af chicken, mushrooms and cream with some fresh basil and sage never fails and if you have the dry porchini mushrooms and the white wine......use it!!!, becouse it makes all the difference. Serve with a fresh salat (from Hollt og Gott off course!!) and garlic bread.

Serves 4-6

20g dry porchini mushrooms, (optional)
4 chicken breasts, cut into pieces
300g fresh mushrooms, sliced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2tbsp olive oil
2dl white wine, (or chicken stock)
5dl cream, (or sour-cream)
400g spaghetti
200g fresh parmesan cheese, grated
fresh basil, chopped
fresh sage, chopped

Preheat the oven to 200˚C.

Put the dried mushrooms in a bowl and pour 1dl of boiling water over, let in cool down for about 10 minutes.

Put the spaghetti in some boiling salted water.

Put some olive oil into a hot pan and fry the chicken until brown. Take the porchini mushrooms out of the water (but save the water) and add to the chicken along with the red onion, garlic and fresh mushrooms. Stir together.

Add the white wine and porchini water to the pan, lower the heat to medium and let it simmer for a few minutes until the chicken is cooked and the wine has reduced a little. Add the cream and let it simmer for another 2 minutes.

Pour the water off the spaghetti when it´s "al-dente" and add it to the chicken. Add ¾ of the parmesan cheese and all the fresh herbs and stir together. Grate the rest of the parmesan cheese over and bake in the oven in an oven-proof dish or the same pan (if it has a steel handle) until bubbly and golden (approx. 10-12 min)