SPL LIVING
Holiday Entertaining When guests arrive for a New Year’s Eve get-together, will you be ready? After a month of big holiday dinners, New Year’s Eve can be a relief by serving light appetizers that don’t require endless hours of cooking and baking. Simply plan your menu around healthy finger foods and desserts, and offer guests plenty of sparkling drinks and non-alcoholic beverages. These appetizers and cocktails are courtesy of Desiree Noisette of Mermosa Wines. She enlisted celebrity mixologist Melody Maria of Wine on Wheels to curate the cocktail using her sparkling wine Mersecco, and Chef Melanie Cuartelon from Sawgrass Marriott Resort & Spa created the apps.
Happy New Year
Mersecco 24K Gold Sparkler 5 oz Limoncello (or lemonade) 5oz ginger liqueur (or ginger simple syrup) 4-5oz Mersecco Garnish: Sparkler-style cocktail pick Popcorn (any flavor) Pour the Limoncello and ginger liqueur into an old-style coupe glass and top with Mersecco. Carefully slide 4-5 pieces of popcorn onto the pick and rest over the rim of the glass. Cheers!
Cucumber Smoked Salmon Bites 3/4 cup cream cheese (do not use the light cream cheese) 2 tbsp Greek yogurt Zest from 1 lemon 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice 1 tbsp minced fresh dill 1 garlic clove, grated or minced Pinch of sea salt 2 cucumbers - you can slice these or use a microplane for long strips (as pictured) 5 oz smoked salmon Freshly ground pepper Whip cream cheese through sea salt with a mixer until whipped. Transfer to a piping bag fitted with a star attachment (OR use a plastic bag and cut off the tip if you don’t care about fancy). Put cucumber slices on serving tray (or curl up your cucumber strips to form mini cups). Place salmon and piped cream cheese on top and garnish with a little more of the fresh dill and cracked pepper.
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StPeteLifeMag.com
November/December 2021