Norwegian Potluck Picnic

     I recently joined the Boulder Colorado chapter of Sons of Noway - the Vesterheim Lodge. This past Saturday, we celebrated Syttende Mai (May 17th) which is the anniversary of the signing of the Norwegian Constitution in 1814. Picnic day was gorgeous, sunny and about 80 degrees, with just a slight breeze.

Buffet - Note the kransekake
in the center of table

Kransekake 

     After a parade with people in Norwegian costumes and a presentation of the Norwegian flag, we then participated in a favorite Norwegian pastime: eating! In addition to common picnic fare of hot dogs, we had many salads to choose from including several different potato salads, sweet potato salad, cucumber salad, green salad, pea salad, fruit salad, and chicken salad (recipe below). Corn pudding, pate on crackers, and chilled shrimp completed the main offerings.

     Desserts included homemade ice-cream, chocolate cake, blueberry pie, cream puffs, cupcakes, watermelon, and  the edible centerpiece, the towering kransekake. Kransekake is made of almond marzipan-like heavy dough that is baked in special ring pans. The result is a crispy outside with a chewy but soft interior. It is almond-flavored with a sweetly delicate white icing used to help stick the tower of rings together and add a little vanilla sweetness. It's beautiful to look at and delicious to eat!

Chicken Macaroni Salad

Makes about 24 (1/2 cup) servings

Ingredients
2 cups roughly chopped chilled poached chicken
7 ounce box macaroni (tiny rings, shells, or other small pasta), cooked and chilled
3 large eggs, hard-boiled and chilled
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 cup mayonnaise
2/3 cup Miracle Whip salad dressing
1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions
      Note: The chicken, macaroni, and hard boiled eggs all need to be prepared ahead of time and chilled for at least 
      2 hours or up to a day ahead of serving.
1.  Poach 1 skinless chicken breast and 4 skinless thighs in a small amount of chicken broth seasoned with thyme, onion, and white pepper. When poached, remove from broth, remove meat from bones, discard broth and chicken bones; roughly chop chicken meat and chill covered in the refrigerator. I make mine the day ahead of time, increasing the chicken by several pieces, poaching it in a slow cooker. That way, I had cooked enough chicken for a dinner meal the day before and enough chicken for the salad. Or, you can buy a roasted chicken from the grocery store and use the meat from that. The meat should chill for at least 2 hours or the day before.
2.  Prepare the macaroni according to package directions and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours. I prefer to use tiny macaroni rings. I always bring home several packages in my suitcase when I visit my family in Minnesota because I haven't been able to find them where I live. If you can't find them or prefer other macaroni, a good substitution is tiny shells or bow ties. I have put a picture of the macaroni rings after this recipe along with a photo of the finished chicken salad. Notice that I pulled out a single macaroni ring on the back of the dish so you can see how small they are.
3.  Hard boil 3 large eggs, peel and roughly chop; chill at least 2 hours in refrigerator. If you wish, you can set aside one of the eggs and slice them as a decorative topping.
4.  Dice the celery and carrot and set aside.
5.  In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine the mayonnaise, Miracle Whip, pepper, and salt and whisk together until blended. I like the combination of mayonnaise and Miracle Whip because of their different tastes. You may wish to use one or the other or substitute dairy sour cream for Miracle Whip.
6. In a large mixing bowl, combine the chicken, macaroni, eggs, celery, carrot, and dressing. Toss lightly to coat everything, taking care not to smash the delicate macaroni rings.
7. Serve chilled.
8. There is the option of adding what you like or not including what you don't. Examples of additions that I've used include radishes, bell peppers, chopped Romaine lettuce, cherry tomatoes, green onions, green beans, pecans, walnuts, slivered almonds, cashews, grapes, apple pieces, pear pieces, and berries.

My favorite macaroni rings

Chicken Salad - note the tiny macaroni
ring on the back of the dish

 This chicken salad is one of my favorites that I often bring to potluck parties. I add and subtract ingredients depending on my mood and what's available in my pantry or in the grocery store. I encourage you to do the same, but caution you to pay attention because of my experience. Years ago, I had a dinner party on a hot summer evening. I served my chicken salad and everyone said how delicious it was and what a great chicken salad it was. Later that evening after our guests had gone, I was cleaning up the kitchen and putting things away when I discovered a nice big bowl of chilled chopped chicken in the refrigerator . . . the chicken that I had forgotten to put in the chicken salad! Some world-famous Chicken Salad, indeed!!!

     Back to the Syttende Mai party - after eating, we all watched some Viking Re-enactors. Once they had demonstrated their skills and demolished each other, they called up all the kids, gave them Noodles as weapons and let them vanquish the Vikings. The kids had a blast and we were very entertained watching them burn off all the sugar they had eaten at dinner. It was a great way to end the party.

Viking Re-enactors

Kids attacking the Vikings