History

While not an ancient dish, the fiskipanna became a Reykjavik institution through the seafood restaurant Messinn, which built its reputation on serving the day's catch in a hot cast-iron pan. It plays to Iceland's great strength, fish landed hours earlier, cooked simply in butter so the freshness carries. The format spread across the city's seafood rooms and is now one of the most ordered dishes for visitors wanting Icelandic fish without a tasting-menu commitment.

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Common allergens: Fish, Milk

Make it at home

Yield 4Hands-on 25 minTotal 40 minDifficulty Easy

Ingredients

  • 4 thick fillets of Icelandic cod, char, or trout, 180g each, skin on
  • 600g small new potatoes, halved
  • 200g cherry tomatoes
  • 200g chestnut mushrooms, halved
  • 1 small leek, finely sliced
  • 120g unsalted butter
  • 2 tbsp neutral oil
  • 3 garlic cloves, crushed
  • 1 small bunch dill, chopped
  • 1 small bunch chives, snipped
  • 1 lemon, halved
  • Sea salt, black pepper

Method

  1. Boil new potatoes in salted water until just tender, 12 minutes. Drain.
  2. Heat a heavy cast-iron pan with 30g butter and the neutral oil. Fry potatoes cut-side down until crisp and golden, 6 minutes. Push to one side of the pan.
  3. Add leek and mushrooms to the open space, cook 5 minutes until softened.
  4. Pat fish dry, season heavily on both sides. Lay skin-side down across the pan and press gently to keep flat for 90 seconds.
  5. Add cherry tomatoes around the fish. Add remaining butter and crushed garlic; once the butter foams, baste the fish constantly for 3 minutes.
  6. Squeeze juice from half the lemon across the pan; the steam finishes the fish.
  7. Turn off heat, scatter dill and chives over everything. Serve the cast-iron pan straight to the table with the second lemon half on the side.
  8. Each diner lifts a piece of fish with vegetables onto their plate.

Tip from the editors. The pan must reach the table sizzling; preheat the iron heavily before fish goes in, and never crowd the pan or it will steam rather than crust.

Where to eat fiskipanna (icelandic fish pan)

Fiskipanna (Icelandic fish pan) in Reykjavik

Messinn ★ 4.5

$$$ Seafood101

Messinn on Laekjargata built its name on the fish pan, fresh catch fried in butter and served sizzling in a cast-iron skillet to half of Reykjavik.

OrderA fish pan, the cast-iron skillet of butter-fried catch with potatoes.

TipLunch is the value sitting and the room is small, so arrive early or expect a wait at dinner.

Directions Book

Fish Company ★ 4.6

$$$ Seafood101 Grandi

Fish Company, Fiskfelagid in Icelandic, cooks Reykjavik's most awarded seafood in the 1884 Zimsen house, a five-course menu of local fish landed that day.

OrderThe five-course gourmet menu, which changes with the day's catch.

TipVoted the Grapevine's best seafood for over a decade. The downstairs room under the bridge is the one to book.

Directions Book

Kopar ★ 4.3

$$$ Seafood101 Grandi

Kopar sits over the water at the Old Harbour on Geirsgata, a Reykjavik seafood room that leans on local langoustine and cod with vegan plates too.

OrderThe langoustine, or the signature cod with whatever is in season.

TipAsk for a window table over the harbour. Lunch is the cheaper way into the same kitchen.

Directions Book

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