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Plokkfiskur
Reykjavík, Iceland
Iceland's quintessential cold-weather comfort food: flaked white fish (usually haddock or cod) and boiled potatoes folded into a thick béchamel of butter, flour, and milk, seasoned with onion, white pepper, and sometimes a whisper of curry powder (a strange but beloved post-war addition). Born of frugality and the need to use up leftover boiled fish in a country where nothing edible could ever be wasted, plokkfiskur doesn't appear on tourist menus but lives in every Icelandic home, school cafeteria, and harbor-side workers' canteen. It's eaten with a slice of dark, dense rúgbrauð, the rye bread traditionally steam-baked in geothermal earth, and a smear of butter. The name literally means 'plucked fish,' referring to the way the cooked flesh is pulled apart by hand rather than cut. Reykjavík fishmongers still sell it ready-made in plastic tubs for families too tired after work to assemble it themselves.
Ingredients
- 500 ghaddock or cod fillets (skinless)
- 500 gwaxy potatoes
- 60 gunsalted butter
- 3 tbspall-purpose flour
- 400 mlwhole milk
- 1 mediumyellow onion (finely diced)
- 1 leafbay leaf
- 0.5 tspwhite pepper
- 1 tspmild curry powder (optional)
- 1 tspsalt
- 1 loafrugbraud or dark rye bread (to serve)
Directions
- 1
Boil the potatoes whole in salted water until tender, about 20 minutes; peel while warm and chop into 2 cm chunks.
- 2
Poach the fish gently in lightly salted water with the bay leaf for 6 to 8 minutes, until just flaking. Lift out, drain, and flake into large pieces.
- 3
Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat; sweat the onion until translucent, about 5 minutes.
- 4
Stir in the flour and cook 1 minute, then gradually whisk in the warm milk until a smooth, loose bechamel forms.
- 5
Season with white pepper, salt, and curry powder if using.
- 6
Fold in the potatoes and the flaked fish; warm through gently without breaking the fish apart.
- 7
Serve immediately in deep bowls with thick slices of buttered rye bread.