So being invited to my Scandinavian sister's St. Lucia party was just a short ride on the southern artery to their island. She and I "adopted" each other in this foreign land, starting from when our daughters were 3 years old, and we have been sharing our culture and traditions with each other since.
She served a table full of gravlax, pumpernickle bread bowl with spinach and artichoke dip, pickled herring, potato casserole with ground beef, Swedish meatballs with lingon berry sauce, and their specialty, hot smoked salmon over woodchips from Finnish trees.
... she just had a hefty baby boy 3 months ago...!
hot smoked salmon
This is what I brought, in the spirit of Filipino food sharing, 2 easy dishes:
A short list of marinade ingredients, enough for 5 lbs. of chicken wings (our favorite for the high ratio of skin to flesh).
6 cloves of finely crushed garlic, 2/3 cup of vegetable oil, 1/2 cup of soy, 1/2 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of dijon mustard, 1/2 cup of fresh calamansi juice (or lemon/orange juice combination) 2 tsps. of maggi/knorr liquid seasoning or salt.
Whisk ingredients very well and pour over disjointed wings (discard the nubbins-wing tips-or use for chicken broth). Let sit at least 3 hours.
Preheat oven to 400F. Line a baking pan w/ aluminum foil and set a non-stick roasting rack over; arrange chicken wings and bake for 40 minutes or so.
honey mustard chicken wings (fr. "finger food," laurel glen publishing,www.advantagebooksonline.com)
For my dessert contribution:
Nantucket cranberry pie
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a food processor, chop a 12-oz. bag of fresh cranberries until coarse.
Pour into a bowl and add 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts and 1/2 cup of sugar.
Melt 1 and 1/2 sticks of butter (12 tbsps.) in a 10 inch springform pan or pie plate.
Pour into a small bowl or measuring cup. Let cool.
Spread the cranberry-walnut-sugar mixture in the pan or pie plate. Set aside.
Mix 1 cup flour, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1/4 tsp. amaretto (or almond extract), 1/4 tsp. salt, and the cooled melted butter, just until blended. Pour over the cranberry-sugar-walnut mixture and bake for 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. (from Gourmet magazine, November 1993)
A sweet and intimate little party, made even more joyous by the recent arrival of a much longed-for little guy...
All about
Santa Lucia of Syracuse, Sicily...