2½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats or rolled rye flakes
Scant 1 cup milk or soy milk, warmed
½ cup plain skyr
2 tablespoons raisins
2 apples, cored and diced or thinly sliced
½ apple, cored and shredded
2 handfuls of fresh berries
2 tablespoons chopped almonds
2 tablespoons chopped skinned toasted hazelnuts
2 tablespoons honey
Put the oats in a bowl or jar and pour in the warm milk. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
In the morning, add the skyr and mix to combine. If the mixture is too thick, add more skyr. Mix in the raisins, diced apples, and berries, then serve topped with the almonds, hazelnuts, honey, and shredded apple.
6 cups vegetable stock 1 pound porcini, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into ½-inch slices * 5 black peppercorns 2 to 3 bay leaves ½ cinnamon stick Fine sea salt ¼ cup heavy (whipping) cream, whipped to soft peaks (optional) ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
In a medium pot, bring the stock to a boil. Add the mushrooms, peppercorns, bay leaves, and cinnamon stick, reduce the heat, and simmer for 20 minutes. Skim off any foam that forms on the surface.
Line a colander or large metal sieve with cheesecloth and strain the consommé into another pot, pressing gently on the mushrooms with a spoon to release as much liquid as possible. Discard the mushrooms and spices.
Reheat the consommé and season with salt. Pour into bowls. Add a couple tablespoons of cream if desired to each portion, sprinkle with cinnamon, and serve
* Fresh porcini, also called cèpes, are sometimes available in gourmet markets. If you cannot get them, you can make the soup with 1 pound button mushrooms, trimmed, cleaned, and sliced, plus 2 ounces dried porcini.
2 tbsp chopped herbs (such as dill, parsley, chives)
2 slices of sourdough bread
½ jar pickled herring, drained (approx. 4oz)
½ red onion, very finely diced
small handful of chives, roughly chopped, to garnish
Boil the potatoes until just tender, about 20 minutes. Leave until cool enough to handle, then slice thickly.
Boil the eggs for about 8 minutes, until relatively hard boiled. Leave to cool, then peel and slice.
Mix the mayonnaise with the mustard, chopped herbs and a little seasoning. Spread over the sourdough bread slices, then arrange a layer of potato over the top. Add the egg, herring and finely chopped onion and garnish with a sprinkle of fresh chives.
Line a fine-mesh sieve with a piece of cheesecloth and set it over a bowl. Spoon the yogurt into the sieve, fold the cheesecloth over to cover the yogurt, and refrigerate the setup overnight to drain. Transfer the drained yogurt to an airtight container and store in the refrigerator. It should keep as long as the expiration date on the yogurt container
A fine-mesh nylon vegetable bag or cheesecloth for draining the curds
* Available at Whole Foods, Fresh Market, Haggen’s and specialty food stores. Skyr was introduced to America in 2005 by enterprising Icelandic expatriate Siggi Hlmarsson under the brand name of “Siggi’s Icelandic Style Skyr.”
Skyr—pronounced “skeer”—is a traditional Icelandic “yogurt” that has been made since the 9th century Viking era. It is technically classified as a cheese because it contains rennet, a substance used in curdling milk when making cheese, but is considered a yogurt because of its structure and texture.
Bring the milk to the scalding point. Pour the milk in a heavy-bottomed pot and bring the milk to a slow and steady simmer over a medium-high burner, heating it until it reaches the scalding point, which is between 185 and 190 F; this should take about 15 to 20 minutes. Stir frequently to prevent scalding.
If toward the very end of the heating process you notice that the milk at the bottom of the pot has begun to scald (seems like it is starting to stick), reduce the heat to medium-low, and stop stirring. A small bit of scalding is okay, but you don’t want to release the scalded bits into the mixture.
Turn the burner off immediately when the milk reaches the scalding point. Remove the pot from the burner and allow it to cool to 110 F.
Scoop out the container of skyr into a bowl. Once the milk has cooled down, combine 1 cup of the cooled milk with the skyr, then return the mixture to the pot, stirring to incorporate.
Next, whisk the liquid rennet into the warm water, then stir this mixture immediately into the milk (the rennet will lose its effectiveness if prepared more than 30 minutes before using).
Cover the pot with a thick towel and place in a warm, draft-free spot, such as the oven (not turned on) or an insulated cooler, for 12 hours.
The curds should have separated from the whey overnight—what you need to create the skyr are just the curds. Spoon the curds into a fine-meshed bag or a double-layer of cheesecloth. Suspend the bag over a dripping tray in a cool room, or place the bag over a colander set over a bowl in the refrigerator, and allow the remaining whey to drain until the skyr is thick.
Your skyr will keep for three or four weeks, covered, in the refrigerator. To serve as breakfast or a snack, top with milk, fresh berries, and sugar or honey to taste.
micro herbs [such as dill, amaranth, rocket (arugula)]
Mix the lemon juice with a pinch of sugar and salt. Add the red onion slices and set aside for 30 minutes.
Dry toast the caraway seeds until fragrant, be careful not to burn them. Allow to cool, then lightly bash using a mortar and pestle. Tip into a bowl along with the dill, lemon zest, a little juice from the halved lemon and the softened butter. Season with salt and white pepper and mix together.
Thinly slice the remaining half lemon. Spread the butter over the bread and top with the smoked salmon, pickled red onion, lemon slices and some of the micro herbs.
Skyr ( pronounced “skeer”) is an Icelandic dairy product similar to yogurt, and it’s been a provision of Icelanders for nearly 1,000 years.
The Cultures
Yogurt and Skyr are both cultured dairy products, but the cultures that make them are different. Skyr impart a rich, creamy flavor, whereas yogurt cultures may provide a sour, tart taste.
The Recipe
Skyr is much thicker and more densely concentrated than yogurts. In fact, it takes nearly four cups of milk to make just one cup of Skyr.
The Nutrition
On average, Skyr contains more protein and 1/3 less sugar than regular yogurts. It’s a not-so-secret secret Icelanders have known for generations.
How Skyr is Made
The milk is heated to just the right temperature before adding Skyr Cultures, which help transform that milk into Skyr — the way Icelanders have for hundreds of years.
Next, flavor Skyr with a combination of traditional berries, enhanced with natural flavors, and those native to Iceland and its Nordic cousins, a nod to the relationship these nations have shared throughout the centuries.
Even if you don’t use Nordic berries in your Skyr it’s for good (and delicious) reasons. For instance, while you won’t find coconuts growing in Iceland, coconut flakes and flavor make a fantastic addition to Skyr!
Nordic Berries
Bilberry
Bilberries look and taste like blueberries, but they are much juicier and more intense.
Cloudberry
Cloudberries are hard to find, but their sweet, baked-apple taste is worth the search.
Lingonberry
Lingonberries are equal parts sweet and tart, making them delightfully refreshing.
Black Currant
Beloved by the Vikings, the black currant provides a tart punch to our ripe black cherry flavor.
Each cup of Skyr contains an average of 15-17 grams of protein. On average Skyr contains 11 grams of sugar per flavored cup, which is at least 4 grams or 30% less than 5.3 ounces of ordinary flavored yogurts that contain at least 16 grams of sugar.
⅞ cup sweetened dried cranberries or dried blueberries
1 tablespoon chia seeds
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the almonds, hazelnuts, pepitas, oats, and rye flakes over the prepared baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven. Drizzle with the honey and sprinkle with the sugar. Add the cranberries and chia seeds and mix well. Return to the oven and bake for 5 minutes more, or until the granola is lightly browned.
Let cool completely. Store the granola in an airtight container at room temperature.
Mark Bere Peterson’s Counterculture, Urban Legends, Paganism & Witchcraft 