Iceland

Lúðusúpa (Halibut Soup)

• 1 1/2 kg halibut (cleaned weight)
• 1 1/2 litre water
• 2 tablespoons vinegar
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 2 bay leaves
• 60g butter, melted
• 60g flour
• 20 prunes (or 3 sticks of rhubarb)
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1 egg with 1 teaspoon sugar stirred in

Cut the halibut into suitable pieces. Bring the water, with the vinegar, salt and bay leaves to the boil. Add the fish and remove scum when the water comes back to the boil. Continue simmering the fish until the flesh is 'loosened from the bones'. Then strain most of the broth into a second cooking pot, leaving just enough with the fish to keep it hot.

Bring the broth in the second pot back to a gentle boil. Meanwhile, stir the flour into the melted butter and add it, little by little, to the broth, stirring continuously. Let the broth simmer for another 5 or 10 minutes.

The prunes should have been soaked in water for a while and then heated almost to boiling point, with the addition of some slivers of lemon peel (subsequently discarded). If rhubarb is used instead, it should first be cut into sections of about 3 cm and cooked in a very small quantity of water, with a little sugar, until just tender.