 Plokkfiskur, a fish and potato stew, is one of Iceland's oldest and most traditional dishes - the one Icelandic recipe you find everywhere. But together with the recipe there are often warnings about how this dish can be bland. So I decided to skip it and make this recipe for baked fish instead. It seems to have similar elements, but more potential to be tasty. Boy, was I right. The flavor of this dish was just phenomenal and it was worth all the calories.
Truth be told I had an inkling this would work out. I had previously made a recipe for fish in a cream and cheese sauce when I visited the Mexican state of Hidalgo in this culinary journey. I had been surprised at how well it worked, and saw no reason why this wouldn't work just as well.
I followed the recipe pretty closely, though I used Havarti cheese instead of the emmental or Tilsiter the recipe called for. Neither were available at my local supermarket, and Havarti - a Danish cheese - seemed like a good compromise. I also used less cheese than the original recipe called for, as I just didn't need as much to cover the fish.
Adapted from a recipe at Guide to Iceland |