World Cup Dinners

“More food mama, give us more food mama
Give us prawn ring mama, give us anything mama
Thank god,……my mum has gone to Iceland.”

So said obscure 90s brit-pop pseudo-legends Bennet, though it is debatable whether they were singing about the far-northern Scandinavian country who have just sadly exited the Russia 2018 World Cup, or the chain of cleverly named British freezer shops.

Iceland (the country, not the shop) were making their debut at World Cup finals this year, having never managed to qualify before! Their emergence on the world football stage has been led by players such as Everton’s  Gylfi Siggurosson, and forward Alfreo Finnbogsaon.

Their footballing rise has coincided with a culinary ‘golden generation’ of chefs from the world’s northernmost capital Reykjavik. Spearheaded by Gunnar Karl Gislason in his Michelin starred Dill restaurant where he marries nouvelle cuisine techniques with traditional Icelandic ingredients.

For my Icelandic World Cup Dinner I decided to keep it simple for a mid-week meal, with a recipe I found on the Iceland Tourist board website. It’s a baked cod dish which focusses on simple cooking of tasty ingredients.

 Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 cod fish fillets
• Juice 1/2 lemon
• Salt & Pepper to taste
• 1 slice emmenthaler cheese ripped into bits.
• 1 tsps mustard
• 1 tbsp cream
• 1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Methods:

1. Preheat oven to 180°
2. Pour olive oil into a baking dish.
3. Put the fillets into the baking dish.
4. Season the fillets with salt, pepper and freshly squeezed lemon juice.
5. Cover the fish with shredded cheese.
6. Mix mustard with cream and pour it over fish fillets.
7. Cover with breadcrumbs.
8. Bake the fillets for 30 minutes.
9. Serve with new or mashed potatoes