How to prepare an Icelandic meal: Icelandic Lamb

Описание: A hearty main dish: Slow cooked lamb shoulder “flacos” tacos with zesty salsa, sweet salad and lovage potatoes:

While lamb is a common main dish in Iceland cuisine and barley a popular accompaniment, this recipe offers a fresh take, this fusion makes for an original, colourful meal with a variety of green herbs, red tomato salsa and purple beet barley. A feast for the eyes and the mouth.

Ingredients:
Icelandic Lamb
1 pc lamb shoulder, approximately 1,5 kg on the bone
1 bouquet garni
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 bay leaves
3 black pepper corns
2 shallots, roughly chopped
½ garlic, cut in half
5 star anis
1 onion
5 tbsp butter
500ml lamb stock (can be substituted with vegetable or chicken stock if unavailable)
BBQ glaze
500ml stock from braised lamb
1dl BBQ sauce
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
Tomato salsa
4-5 medium sized tomatoes
1 avocado
1 bunch coriander
½ red onion
1 lime, juice only
Red beet barley
1 red beet
100g Icelandic organic barley
50g feta cheese
1 Pomegranate, seeds only
2 tbsp chives, freshly chopped
Oil to taste
Salt and pepper to taste
Lovage potatoes
200g small potatoes, cooked with skin on
2 cloves garlic
1 sprig fresh lovage
1 bunch fresh parsley
1 sprig fresh thyme
30g butter
Green peas
Sour cream

Icelandic Flatbread – can be substituted with any other type of flatbread if unavailable, it is also rather easy to make from scratch (using a pancake pan instead of a stove if your stove is not old fashioned).

The first step will be to slow cook the lamb shoulder, start early as this will take six hours. Cut small holes into the skin of the lamb and fill with garlic cloves, combine all the other ingredients listed in a large roasting pan. Braise in an oven for 6 hours at 90°C. The shoulder is a high-fat piece of meat and will be juicy when cooked this way (you can adjus the cooking time with the heat if need be). Remove from the oven, strain the juices from the pan and put aside.

While the meat was cooking, you will have had plenty of time to prepare the other dishes. Make the BBQ glaze which is a simple question of combining the ingredients in a non-stick sauce pan at a medium heat, and reducing to a thick syrup whilst stirring occasionally. You will use this for the next step in cooking the meat which is to grill it at a high heat either in the oven or on a barbeque, brushing regularly with the BBQ glaze. You will have to trust your judgement here, the meat will be very tender from the slow cooking so this is a matter of taste, how barbequed you want the meat. It should be enough to glaze the meat 3-4 times for the flavours to penetrate the meat, when it is done, rip the succulent meat off the bone with two forks for serving tacos style.

To make the salsa, simply peel and dice the tomatoes, avocado and onions, mix with roughly chopped coriander and lime juice. Season with sea salt. The red beet & barley salad is next on the list. Rinse and cook the barley in water in a saucepan for 45 minutes, strain and out aside. Peel the red beet and dice, spread on a baking tray, add oil, salt and pepper and cook in the oven at 160°C until tender, remove from oven and chill. Mix the ingredients together along with the pomegranade seeds and season with sea salt and pepper.

Boil the green peas, it is easiest to avoid overcooking by using frozen green peas and adding them when the water is already boiling, removing them in a couple of minutes. The potatoes are the last thing left to prepare. Boil the potatoes and then chop them roughly. Finely chop the garlic and sautée in a saucepan with butter and thyme, add the potatoes and sautée for 2-3 minutes. Put aside and chill, add chopped lovage and parsley, season with sea salt and pepper.
Each guest should get their own piece of flatbread, with sour cream, salsa, barley, peas, potatoes and meat piled on top. Indulge in this high-class street-food style delicacy, savouring each bite.

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