Soup Tuesday: Kræklingasúpa, Icelandic Mussels Soup

Blue Mussels have been harvested in Iceland for over 30 years, but it’s only been in the last six years that they have really taken off. Gunnar Karl Gíslason, the head chef and owner of Dill, played no small part in the local rise in Blue Mussels’ popularity.

In many ways, Blue Mussels are part of the new-school of Icelandic cooking and production. The mussels are sweet and salty, but balanced out perfectly with some cream and acidity.

This is a really simple recipe, but it’s delicious. I picked these mussels up fresh at Kjöt og Fiskur, a great fish monger and butcher shop on Bergstaðastræti 14 in 101 Reykjavík, owned by basketball players (wow, I should write about that…).

Anyway, enjoy this great recipe and be part of the new tradition.

Kræklingasúpa: Icelandic Blue Mussels Soup

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time:  45 minutes

Ingredients:

4     Red Onions

1     Large loin of Ling Cod

1     Kg Small Red Potatoes

2     Kg Fresh Blue Mussels

500 ml of 36% Cream

2    Handfuls fresh Thyme

3    Tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar

3    Enough Fish Bouillon to handle three litres of water.

Keep the Red Wine Vinegar out to splash on some Onion slices for garnish.

Directions:

1. Rinse and quarter your small potatoes and place in the pot. Add 3 litres of water with few pinches of salt and the fish bouillon. Bring the pot to a boil.

2. Thinly slice the red onions, but leave a good handful to the side in a bowl and cover with some red wine vinegar. Add the red onion slices that are NOT in vinegar to the pot.

3. Once the potatoes are soft, add three tablespoons of red wine vinegar to broth, slice the ling cod and add to boiling broth. Let the ling cod poach for 2 minutes.

4.Dice up your fresh thyme and add it to the broth.

5. Scrub and rinse the blue mussels with cold water and add to the broth. Cook for four minutes or until the mussels open.

6. Add the heavy cream to the broth and be careful not to bring to a boil. Serve in a nice bowl and garnish with the lightly pickled red onions.

Remember to share this recipe with your friends and loved ones.

Also, send us your recipes. Let’s get through this winter together.

One Soup Tuesday at a time.

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WTF is a Soup Tuesday?

As the sun yet again makes her draining descent towards winter solstice, it has become clear: fall has arrived. The darkness in store will likely bring a lot of you down, but don’t fret or give up—there are a number of methods for fighting off the winter blues: Reading, lýsi, sex, drugs, alcohol, and—of course—soup. Now, doing most of those things would be mostly inappropriate, if not illegal, at the Reykjavík Grapevine’s offices (if it were one of those “appropriate” offices)—except for maybe the lýsi and reading. And of course, the soup.

Lýsi is kinda disgusting and reading is for nerds, so to combat the coming full-scale attack of the SADs, we decided to started a new tradition to help us make it through the coming winter: SOUP TUESDAYS. Yes! Soup Tuesdays! Every Tuesday, we’ll be making a different soup in our shitty little office, document the process and then show you how to make one for yourself.

You can also send us your best recipes (on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or email), with a photo, so we can share soup knowledge throughout the world. Together we can make it through the bad weather.

Solace and Solidarity in Soup.

Happy Soup Tuesday.