Iceland review - 2015, Qupperneq 70

68 ICELAND REVIEW
METHOD
Purée fish and onion in a food processor.
Place in a bowl; add sesame oil, sweet chili
sauce and vegetable stock and mix togeth-
er. Chop surimi, red onion, spring onion,
kaffir leaves and chili and add to mixture
(be sure not to chop the ingredients too
finely). Mix well and add sesame seeds and
roughly-chopped coriander stalks. Shape
the mixture into small patties. Heat oil in
a pan. Fry until golden brown (about one
minute each side). Enjoy!

FOOD
check what they were catch-
ing—to my surprise they were
rock crabs.”
The species was first spotted
in Southwest Iceland in 2006,
having been unintentional-
ly brought to the country
by cargo ships from North
America. The species has been
multiplying rapidly—it now
populates West and North
Iceland too—resulting in its
classification as an invasive
species. “There are so many of
them now. It’s not a question
of if we want to eat them—we
have to eat them. I sometimes
joke that if we don’t eat the
crabs, they will eat us... or eat
from us, rather,” Sveinn says.
Not that Sveinn is com-
plaining. “We’ve been using
scallops, mussels and lobster,
and with the addition of crab,
the Icelandic shellfish flora
is even richer,” he enthuses.
“Rock crab has a sweet, fresh
taste,” he adds. The shellfish
currently feature in three dish-
es on Aalto’s menu: crab cakes
and rock crab with coriander
and lemon aioli, as well as the
seafood soup. Come summer,
a crab salad will also be on
offer. While his restaurant is
one of very few currently using
it, Sveinn expects Icelandic
crab to grow in popularity.
“Hopefully in a few years crab
will be like mussels. It took a
really long time for them to
become popular in Iceland and
for them to be available in fish
shops. It will probably be the
same with crab.” *
INGREDIENTS
400g cod
1 onion
1 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
1 tbsp vegetable stock
200g surimi (seafood sticks)
½ red onion
3 spring onions
2 large kaffir lime leaves
1 red chili
400g rock crab meat
2 tbsp sesame seeds
6 coriander stalks
Worth the experience
WE PROMISED
TO KEEP UP
THE GOOD WORK
BEST DUTY FREE SHOPPING
SERVICE PROVIDER
IN EUROPE 2013 2014 2015
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ÍA

Chef Sveinn Kjartansson.
Recipe