Now that we are moving into the fall months and winter is not far behind, why not learn how to make traditional Icelandic lamb soup. After all, what is more cozy than a healthy delicious soup on a cold day? In this blog we will give you step by step instructions on how to make traditional Icelandic lamb soup.
Before we get into how to make the soup we feel it wouldn’t be right if we did not get into the Icelandic lamb first.
The Icelandic lamb is a free range lamb, grazing on Iceland’s mountain grass, berries and wild herbs such as thyme its whole life. Did you know some of the most amazing locations in Iceland were found by following lamb trails? Its true! Our lamb are serious adventurous wanderers. We believe that with our free range lamb and our Icelandic nature is what makes our lamb one of a kind.
Lets start with what ingredients are needed for this recipe. You will need the following:
- 3 liters of water = 12.5 cups
- 1.5- 2 kg Icelandic lamb soup pieces on the bone(any lamb will do) = 3.3 – 4.4 lbs.
- 1/2 cup rice (optional)
- 2 lamb stock cubs
- 5 – 8 diced and peeled carrots depending on size
- 8-10 small diced potatoes (for this recipe we used 2 large potatoes)
- 1 large diced rutabaga
- 1/4 diced cabbage
- 1 large diced onion (for this recipe we use 2 small onions)
- 6 tbs. soup Icelandic soup herbs (dried turnips, carrots, and leek)
Start with rinsing your lamb meat. Next pour cold water into your pot and add the lamb meat. Bring to a boil. The trick is to let the meat sit in the pot while the water heats. Boil the meat for 45 minutes. While the meat boils it is not uncommon that a brown foam will accumulate on top of the water. We recommend spooning the foam out of the water.
While the meat boils, peel and dice the carrots. In this recipe we did not peel the potatoes. Feel free to peel the potatoes as well if that is your preference. Truth be told you once the potatoes are cooked through, you can not tell a difference. Dice the onion, cabbage, and rutabaga.
Once you meat has boiled for 45 minutes add all of the remaining ingredients and boil for another 25 minutes. Once the vegetables have boiled about 10 minutes remove the lamb meat and extract the fat and bones from the meat. Add the meat back to the soup and let boil for the remaining 5 minutes. The last step is simply the easiest and honestly our all time favorite step. Enjoy!
We highly recommend removing the bones after they have boiled instead of removing them before you make the soup. The reason we recommend boiling the bones as well is because of all of the health benefits in boiling bones. Health benefits of bone broth are the following:
- Rich in proteins
- Wonderful for a healthy gut and digestion
- Joint health
- Amino acids
- Supports the production of anti-aging molecules
- Helps to build a strong immune system
Bone broth has been a part of our history from the beginning dating back to pre historic times all due to its believed health benefits.
If you preferer to cut the bones off the meat before boiling we recommend adding the bones to the water anyways.
Now that you know how to make traditional Icelandic we challenge you to make it yourself. Do not have Icelandic lamb? That is okay any lamb will do really. However if you are in Iceland we recommend buying Icelandic lamb on your way home and stocking up on the soup herbs. The soup herbs can also be bought on the website nammi.is . They even have a traditional Icelandic lamb soup already made that you only need to heat up.
Before we end this blog we want to let you in on one of our secrets about the traditional Icelandic lamb soup. It tastes even better the next day.
Traditional Icelandic lamb soup is also the perfect recipe to make during your Icelandic honeymoon. Imagine, you and your new husband or wife are renting a cozy cottage during your Icelandic honeymoon and you get creative and cook this delicious soup together. How fun would that be and its so simple to do.
Are you planning and Icelandic Honeymoon? Contact Us today and we can help you plan a memorable once in a life time honeymoon.