Today is sumardagurinn fyrsti, the first day of summer in Iceland. Traditionally, this holiday is celebrated on the first Thursday after April 18th. The Old Norse calendar used to divide the year into two seasons. This is the second country I've done celebrating "summer" while it's snowing outside.
The cuisine of Iceland is heavily influenced by the fact that it's an island in the Arctic. There's really not a lot of vegetarian options, so a savory dish was kind of off the table (no pun intended.) I probably could have come up with something using rutabagas and other spring root vegetables, but I couldn't really find one distinct vegetarian dish that represented Iceland so I decided to just do something sweet instead.
This dish is called hjónabandssæla, which translates to "wedded bliss" or "happy marriage." I think the name actually comes from newlywed wives making this for their husbands, but I'm going to come up with my own interpretation that this dessert is the perfect marriage of buttery oatmeal crumble and tart fruit jam. Traditional recipes call for rhubarb jam--I used strawberry rhubarb since rhubarb alone is hard to find, and I didn't really have the time to make it myself.
A warm slice of pie with a scoop of ice cream is something I imagine can be enjoyed by anyone of any nationality, but thank you Iceland for this delicious recipe! Skál!
Recipes Used: Hjonabandssaela
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