Ingredients: nut, date, dried apricots, prunes, raisins, jam, candied fruit, mango, rosemary, turmeric, ginger, nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, cranberry liqueur, egg, baking powder, soda, oil, honey, sugar, flour

English Christmas cake traditionally prepared in Great Britain is a wonderful pastry: delicious, aromatic, rich ... Try it too - you will definitely love it!
Ingredients:
- 2 cups of flour;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 1 tbsp. honey;
- 125 grams of butter;
- 0.5 tsp soda;
- 1.5 tsp baking powder;
- 2 eggs;
- 50 ml of cranberry tincture;
- 2 tsp cinnamon;
- 1 tsp ginger;
- 0.5 tsp nutmeg;
- turmeric on the tip of a knife;
- 1 branch of rosemary.
Filling:
- 70 gr of nut mix;
- 80 grams of dates;
- 70 grams of dried apricots;
- 70 gr prunes;
- 70 grams of raisins;
- 30 grams of Kiev dry currant jam;
- 10 grams of candied orange peels;
- 50 grams of dried mango.

21.02.2019

English christmas cupcake

Ingredients: egg, sugar, butter, cream, flour, baking powder, apple, dried apricots, raisins, prunes, dates, walnuts, cognac, seasoning, powdered sugar

Ingredients:

- 2 eggs;
- 140 grams of brown sugar;
- 140 grams of butter;
- 50 ml. cream 20%;
- 150 grams of wheat flour;
- 70 grams of almond flour;
- 10 grams of baking powder;
- 1 apple;
- 65 grams of dried apricots;
- 65 grams of raisins;
- 30 grams of prunes;
- 50 grams of dates;
- 60 grams of walnuts;
- 100 ml. cognac;
- ground cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, dried ginger;
- icing sugar.

09.02.2019

Duck with sauerkraut in the oven

Ingredients: duck, sauerkraut, onion, salt, pepper

Quite often I cook poultry dishes for the festive table. Duck with sauerkraut in the oven is liked by absolutely all my homemade ones. It turns out the duck is delicious and tender.

Ingredients:

- 1 duck;
- 400 grams of sauerkraut;
- 150 grams of onions;
- salt;
- black pepper.

27.03.2018

Wheat kutia with poppy seeds and nuts

Ingredients: wheat, poppy seeds, honey, raisins, walnuts

If you plan to set the table on Christmas night according to all the rules, then do not forget about kutya - you cannot do without it. it can be cooked in different ways, one of the successful options is wheat kutia with poppy seeds and nuts.
Ingredients:
- wheat - 1 glass;
- poppy seeds - 2 tablespoons;
- honey - 2 tablespoons;
- raisins - 1 handful;
- walnuts - 1 handful.

06.02.2018

"Christmas wreath" salad with candles

Ingredients: crab sticks, corn, eggs, cucumbers, dill, mayonnaise, salt

A bright and festive salad in the form of a Christmas wreath with candles will become a real decoration of the menu for New Year's celebrations. It is prepared from crab sticks, corn and fresh cucumber, so it also turns out to be very tasty.

Ingredients:
- crab sticks - 150 gr;
- canned corn - 150 gr;
- eggs - 2-3 pcs;
- cucumber - 1 pc (about 150 gr);
- mayonnaise - 150 gr;
- salt - a small amount;
- dill - for decoration.

31.12.2017

Pine cone salad with almonds

Ingredients: chicken fillet, eggs, cheese, mayonnaise, almonds, salt, potatoes, pickled cucumbers

For the festive table, be sure to prepare this delicious and beautiful salad in the form of a cone. The roasted almonds in this salad will add a sophisticated flavor to the salad.

Ingredients:

- chicken fillet - 300 grams,
- potatoes - 3 pcs.,
- pickled cucumber - 2 pcs.,
- eggs - 3 pcs.,
- hard cheese - 150 grams,
- mayonnaise or sour cream - 150 grams,
- roasted almonds - 200 grams,
- salt.

31.12.2017

Herring salad - tastier "Herring under a fur coat"

Ingredients: beets, eggs, pickled mushrooms, herring, mayonnaise, dill

I want to offer you a recipe for a new herring salad, which I like even more than herring under a fur coat. Be sure to try it.

Ingredients:

- 2 beets,
- 1 carrot,
- 2 eggs,
- 1 herring,
- 150 grams of pickled mushrooms,
- 250 grams of mayonnaise,
- dill - a twig.

29.12.2017

Italian Christmas cupcake or Easter cake Panettone

Ingredients: milk, sugar, eggs, butter, yeast, raisins, candied fruits, olive oil, wheat flour, cardamom, vanilla sugar, nutmeg, salt

- 1 glass of warm milk;
- 1 cup of sugar;
- 3 eggs;
- 150 g butter;
- 30 g of fresh yeast;
- 1 glass of raisins and candied fruits;
- 3 tbsp. l. olive oil;
- 600-700 g of wheat flour;
- vanilla sugar, cardamom, ground nutmeg;
- a little salt.

29.12.2017

"Champagne bottle" salad with shrimps

Ingredients: shrimps, cucumber, carrots, potatoes, eggs

The more salads prepared in the New Year, the better. Especially if they all carry a thematic "charge". That is, they are prepared in the form of a Christmas tree, a snowflake or, like today's salad, a bottle of champagne.

For the recipe you will need:

- 200 grams of shrimp,
- 1 cucumber,
- 1 carrot,
- 1 potato,
- 2 eggs.

28.12.2017

Oven baked turkey with soy sauce

Ingredients: turkey fillet, sauce, mustard, sauce, adjika, oil, garlic, salt, pepper, sugar, paprika

Baked turkey in soy sauce will become the main dish of your holiday table. The recipe is simple. Be sure to see how to cook it.

Ingredients:

- 600 grams of turkey fillet,
- 70 ml. soy sauce,
- 1 tbsp. mustard,
- 1-2 tsp chili sauce,
- 1 tbsp. adjika,
- 2 tbsp. vegetable oil,
- 2 cloves of garlic,
- salt,
- black pepper,
- sugar,
- paprika.

25.12.2017

Duck with tangerines in the oven

Ingredients: duck, tangerine, garlic, ginger, soy sauce, hot sauce, salt, honey, jam, a mixture of ground peppers, potatoes

If you have not yet decided what to cook for the New Year, then we advise you to bake a duck with tangerines in the oven: this is an excellent dish that looks just great! And the taste of such a duck will not leave anyone indifferent.

Ingredients:
- 1 duck of medium size;
- 2-3 pieces of tangerines;
- 3 cloves of garlic;
- 1-2 tsp ginger root;
- 50-75 ml of soy sauce;
- 50 ml of hot sauce;
- 2 tsp salt;
- 1 tbsp. honey or orange peel jam;
- 1 tsp a mixture of ground peppers;
- potatoes for a side dish - to taste.

24.12.2017

Pork leg aspic

Ingredients: hoof, carrot, onion, garlic, celery, laurel, pepper, salt, dill

Inexpensive ingredients, not too complicated cooking process, hearty and beautiful result - this is about pork leg jellied meat. This dish is perfect for the New Years, so its recipe will probably come in handy.

Ingredients:
- 2 kg of pork hooves;
- 200 grams of carrots;
- 140 grams of leeks;
- 1 head of garlic;
- 1 dried celery root with herbs;
- 3 pieces of bay leaves;
- black pepper;
- dill greens;
- salt to taste.

24.12.2017

How to cook jellied meat

Ingredients: knuckle, pork leg, onion, pepper, garlic, parsley, laurel, egg, dill, salt, paprika

Jellied meat is an invariable component of the New Year's menu. It is prepared from different meats, but it is most delicious from pork legs and shank. There is nothing complicated in its preparation, you will see for yourself by reading our recipe.

Ingredients:
- 1.5 kg shank;
- 1 kg of pork legs;
- 2 onions;
- 10 peas of black pepper;
- 6 cloves of garlic;
- 1 parsley root;
- 3 bay leaves;
- 3 grams of ground red paprika;
- 10 quail eggs;
- Dill;
- salt.

23.12.2017

Christmas roll with raisins

Ingredients: milk, sugar, sour cream, yeast, eggs, butter, margarine, vegetable oil, vanillin, raisins, flour

It takes some work to bake a delicious Christmas roll, but it's worth it, the festive pastries are beautiful and mouth-watering. Such a treat will pleasantly delight relatives and guests on New Year's holidays.

Ingredients:
- flour - 700 g,
- milk - 250 ml,
- sour cream - 100 g,
- vanillin - 2 pinches,
- eggs - 3 pcs.,
- dry yeast - 1.5 tsp,
- margarine - 50 g,
- vegetable oil - 40 g,
- butter - 50 g,
- raisins - 70 g,
- sugar - 200 g.

23.12.2017

Christmas baked carp with mushrooms

Ingredients: carp, mushrooms, onion, lemon, butter, dry white wine, salt, pepper

For the Christmas festive table, I suggest you prepare this very tasty and satisfying fish dish - Czech carp. Preparing it is easy and fast enough.

Ingredients:

- carp - 1.2 kg.,
- champignons - 250 grams,
- onion - 1 pc.,
- lemon - a third,
- butter - 80 grams,
- dry white wine,
- salt,
- black pepper.

15.12.2017

New Year's salad "Snowballs" with chicken breast

Ingredients: chicken fillet, corn, cucumber, mayonnaise, cottage cheese, cheese, garlic, dill, sunflower oil

As soon as the holidays are approaching, many housewives think about what to cook. I do not want to repeat the familiar recipes. Cooking something original and new is scary, suddenly they will not appreciate it. There are a lot of recipes on the Internet, but it is difficult to choose something that is beautiful, inexpensive and tasty. I propose to do this: take the products that everyone loves and make a simple and delicious salad out of them. And to make it look beautiful, we will decorate it with cottage cheese balls, which will make it more piquant.
After all, everyone eats meat? Almost. Canned corn and fresh cucumbers are held in high esteem by almost everyone?
This salad is perfect for the New Year. So if you have not yet compiled a New Year's menu, feel free to include this salad there. So, a salad recipe for the New Year.

For 2 servings of Snowball salad you will need:

- large chicken fillet;
- half a glass of canned corn;
- 1 fresh cucumber;
- 2-3 tbsp. light mayonnaise;
- 2 tbsp. cottage cheese, better than low-fat, but as you like;
- 70-100 grams of hard regular cheese;
- 2 cloves of garlic;
- greens;
- vegetable oil for frying.
Ingredients: Carrots, garlic, vegetable oil, vinegar 6% "On herbs", ground coriander, red hot ground pepper, black ground pepper, sugar, salt, parsley

Korean-style carrots are a cold vegetable appetizer with a pungent taste and wonderful spice aroma. This savory dish can be used both as a standalone dish and as an ingredient in delicious salads.

To make homemade Korean carrots you will need:

- 400 g of carrots;
- 2-3 cloves of garlic;
- 50-60 ml of vegetable oil;
- 1.5-2 tbsp. l. vinegar 6%;
- 2-3 tsp ground coriander;
- 1/4 tsp. red hot ground pepper;
- a little black pepper;
- a pinch of sugar;
- a little salt;
- a few sprigs of parsley.

12.12.2017

Snack "Christmas snowballs"

Ingredients: chicken egg, coconut flakes, crab sticks, processed cheese, salt, ground pepper, mayonnaise, garlic

Snacks are the most popular dishes on any festive table and not only. Today we decided to offer you to make original "New Year's snowballs" from crab sticks. The appetizer turned out to be very tasty and beautiful.

For the recipe you will need:
- two eggs;
- 3 tbsp. tablespoons of white coconut flakes;
- eight crab sticks;
- 100 g of processed cheese;
- salt - to taste;
- ground black pepper - to taste;
- 60 g of mayonnaise;
- a clove of garlic.

12.12.2017

Gingerbread house - photo recipe

Ingredients: powdered sugar, eggs, honey, sugar, margarine, cocoa, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg

There is very little time left before the onset of the long-awaited holiday - the New Year. And we are in a hurry to offer you an idea for a dessert for the New Year's or Christmas table. Namely, we offer to cook a gingerbread house with your children. There is nothing more wonderful than joint creative work. It develops the skills and abilities of children, it brings people together, it brings joy. And so, to make such a gingerbread house, the following products are needed:
For glaze:
- sugar or powder - 150 gr,
- egg - 1 piece.
For the test:
- egg - 2 pcs,
- honey - 400 gr,
- sugar - 400 gr,
- cocoa - 50 gr,
- margarine - 300 gr,
- flour - 1000 gr,
- cinnamon - 1 teaspoon,
- baking powder - 2 teaspoons,
- nutmeg - a little,
- ginger - to taste.

What to cook for Christmas, a menu with recipes

Christmas holidays are a meeting of friends, family and friends at the table with deliciously prepared dishes. On Christmas Eve, all the hostesses try to cook something amazingly tasty, special and original, surprise guests with a new dish and pamper their families with the exquisite taste of home cooking.
To make the feast successful, and the hassle of preparing festive dishes pleasant, we have prepared for you, as one of the options, a complete festive menu for Christmas from appetizer to dessert. Choose what you liked and liked, we will be happy if our recipes will help you ease your pre-holiday chores. Merry Christmas!

Christmas menu, recipes

Christmas is a wonderful light Christian holiday. It combines fun and joy with grace, a special aura and unusual cordiality. The traditions of Christmas night, when one cannot touch food until the first star, is observed even by those who did not fast. But when the messenger of the birth of Christ ascends in heaven, the cherished star of Bethlehem, announcing the arrival of our Savior into the world, a real feast begins! So, what to cook for Christmas so that your table is in the spirit of the holiday. The most important dish is, of course. Click on the link and you will see an article on how to cook it with step by step photos, if you do not have your own family recipe.

There must be an abundance of different dishes on the festive table. Appetizers, salads, main course, side dish and always dessert. According to an ancient tradition, a dish with sausage, a piece of horseradish and boiled bacon is placed in the center of the Christmas table.

We offer you a recipe. Homemade Christmas sausages will replace shop sausages in the festive menu, surprise guests with amazing taste and one hundred percent will be fresh, made from natural products with their own hands.
We need a kilogram of meat and lard in the following proportions:
pork and beef 400 grams each, lard - 200 grams;
salt, pepper to taste;
cumin - 0.5 tbsp. l ground;
laurel - 0.5 tbsp. l. ground;
vinegar (table) - 3 tbsp. l .;
a teaspoon of baking soda;
head of garlic (about 8-10 cloves).
Grind all the meat, add spices and finely grated garlic. Soak the intestines in baking soda with vinegar and rinse thoroughly after 15 minutes. We put a special attachment on the meat grinder and fill the intestines with minced sausage, pulling the finished sausages with a thread.
The first appetizer for Christmas is ready, it remains only to fry the sausages on both sides before serving or bake in the oven until golden brown.

Another traditional dish is jellied meat. Take care of it in advance. Our Christmas photo recipes offer the best classic option. To prepare the Christmas version of jellied meat, you will need a peeled pork leg, a small (less than a kilogram) homemade gutted chicken, from a kilogram to one and a half veal tenderloin. Two peeled carrots, one peeled parsley root, a bunch of parsley and dill each, black and allspice 5 peas each, a large onion, salt to taste and a head of garlic.
The secret of making a transparent jellied meat is simple, you need to fill all the meat with water, put it in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours, and preferably overnight, then drain the water, rinse it well again, fill it with fresh water and bring to a boil. As soon as the meat boils, drain the broth, rinse everything again and pour clean water so that it covers the leg, beef and chicken with just two fingers.
As soon as the water boils, it is necessary to reduce the heat to a minimum and simmer the meat for five hours. After five hours, add unpeeled onions, herbs, root vegetables, onions and spices, salt to taste and simmer for about an hour. Then remove from heat. put everything separately and wait until it cools completely. disassemble the meat into plates, add carrots cut into figures or cubes, parsley leaves and pour the broth strained through several layers of cheesecloth.
Remove in the cold, but not in the cold. Delicious, transparent, beautiful jellied beef and pork is ready.

Almost no meal is complete without herring. Surprise your guests with an original, very beautiful dish, prepared easily and from available products, and the taste is delicate and refined.
To prepare a herring snack, you need a herring fillet in an amount equal to the number of guests, or better doubled. Red onions, green apples, mustard, sunflower or olive oil, vinegar, freshly squeezed lemon juice, sugar, salt, green onion feathers, lettuce, and ground pepper to taste.
First, you need to prepare the marinade by combining mustard, lemon juice, vinegar, butter and sugar. Divide the marinade in two. In one place red onion cut into half rings and grated peeled apples. Stir until smooth and grease the herring fillets. Sprinkle with chopped green onions on top, season with salt and pepper and roll into rolls, securing the ends with a toothpick.
Place the rolls on the lettuce leaves and pour over the remaining marinade. A very tasty snack for Christmas, it will surely please even those who are indifferent to herring.

The abundance of snacks on the table allows you to make just one salad. We are all tired of the new year, we ate too many salads and now we want something easier. We suggest that you prepare a salad containing kiwi, and as you know, kiwi breaks down fats and promotes the removal of harmful cholesterol from the body. This is exactly what you need to prepare for Christmas after the previous few days of the New Year's celebration.
To prepare the Malachite Bracelet, you will need boiled chicken, hard cheese, several boiled chicken eggs, boiled carrots, a couple of cloves of garlic, mayonnaise and three or four kiwi fruits. Everything, except for chicken and kiwi, must be grated separately, yolks and whites are also separately. Cut the chicken into cubes, grate the garlic and mix with a little mayonnaise.
Assembly:
Place a glass in the center of a flat dish, greased on the outside with sunflower oil. Distribute the chicken around the glass, then a layer of cheese, the third layer - chicken protein, then - carrots, grated yolk on top. Grease all layers with mayonnaise, and a layer of carrots with mayonnaise with garlic. Then the workpiece must be sent to the refrigerator for a couple of hours to compact the collected layers. Then take out the glass and cover the resulting ring with thin slices of peeled kiwi. The taste is exceptional, and the beauty of the Malachite Box Christmas salad is inimitable.

We suggest preparing a Christmas goose as a main course. Goose with apples is a worthy Christmas dish, but you should start cooking it at least the day before. A carefully peeled carcass must be carefully pierced with a knitting needle in several places and lowered into the marinade so that the poultry meat is marinated for at least 3 hours, and ideally, three days. The marinade is prepared at your own discretion, the classic version is a saline solution with the addition of sage and a mixture of peppers. Before marinating, it is necessary to cut off all excess fat from the carcass, since the subcutaneous fat is enough for us to bake. Pickled goose must be thoroughly rinsed with running water and dried with napkins. It is best to stuff the bird with sour apples (preferably Antonovka) or rice with raisins, or rice with apples. Rice and apples absorb excess fat and give the meat a rich flavor.
The stuffed goose is carefully sewn up, the wings are cut off and homemade foil caps are put on the cut ends. The caps are also put on the ends of the paw scraps. The bird is placed in an oven preheated to 22 degrees Celsius, and after 10 minutes the temperature is reduced to 160 degrees and the goose is languishing with apples from one and a half to two hours.
The whole Christmas goose is served on a platter; it is advisable to put paper papillotes on its legs and wings.


As a festive side dish, our Christmas menu offers potatoes prepared in an original way. Delicious mashed potato balls look aesthetically pleasing and appetizing on a festive table and are ideal as a side dish for a Christmas goose.
You will need freshly cooked mashed potatoes and mushroom filling. Mushroom filling is easy to prepare - you need to fry chopped champignons with finely chopped onions. Form a hemisphere of mashed potatoes and place mushroom filling in each spoon. We put it on a baking sheet and set to bake for 20 minutes, at this time grate the cheese and sprinkle the potatoes with mushrooms with cheese before the end of the baking. Once the cheese is melted and lightly browned, the potato balls are ready. Sprinkle with herbs and serve. Very tasty, sometimes guests forget even about the main dish.

During the Christmas holidays, you want to pamper your children with something special, homemade cakes, buns and cakes. We offer to prepare a delicious Chamomile cake. Beautiful and convenient for serving and portioning, the cake is easy to prepare, and it looks like a king.
To prepare a biscuit, beat five eggs with sugar (150 grams) and gently mix 4 tablespoons of cocoa and 150 grams of flour with five grams of baking powder. Stir the flour lightly from the bottom up and bake in a round fore in an oven preheated to 200 degrees Celsius. The oven cannot be opened for the first 20 minutes, then we check the readiness of the biscuit with a splinter or toothpick.
Divide the biscuit into three cakes or, if time permits, you can bake three separate cakes.
Place the first cake in a split form and the second cake cut into cubes. We prepare a mixture of fruits, yogurt and gelatin, in any proportions, who loves what kind of fruit. We dilute the gelatin according to the instructions and add it to the yogurt, then add the fruit there and fill the biscuit cubes with all this. Further, the entire structure should be removed to the refrigerator until it sets, but not until it hardens completely. Cut the third cake into segments in the form of chamomile petals and its center and place on top. We send the cake to the refrigerator before it is completely impregnated and solidified.
It is better to cook Chamomile cake in the evening, and before serving, remove it from the mold and onto a dish. It is convenient to cut it by petals, on a cut the cake will look very beautiful, and the taste will surprise both children and adults.

Kutia is the main dish that starts the Christmas meal. It symbolizes prosperity and well-being in the house and is always made sweet - with honey, poppy seeds, dried fruits, candied fruits, sugar, uzvar - so that the whole family has a sweet life all the next day. Kutia is a grain, which means it is a symbol of eternal rebirth and faith in Christ.

Pies and pies must definitely stand on the Christmas table near the owner of the house: pastries and dough dishes symbolize solar male energy. Bake different pies, albeit a little - with poppy seeds, potatoes, cabbage, porridge, vegetables ...

Fish is the personification of female energy, water, and it should also be enough, several types - fried fish, stew, salted - especially if a woman dreams of a son or daughter. In addition, fish is an ancient symbol of Christ, and therefore fish dishes on the table on January 6 must be mandatory.

Vareniki- a symbol of prosperity and heavenly life, because the righteous are destined to go to heaven, where they will be like dumplings in oil. Dumplings can be with a variety of fillings: potatoes, potatoes and mushrooms, cabbage, cabbage with mushrooms, sweet versions - with poppy seeds, prunes, dried fruits ...

Pea and Bean Dishes are also very important on the table on Holy Eve: it is believed that legumes will bring prosperity to the house. They also symbolize God's eternal spring - rebirth after decline.

Cabbage rolls are symbolic by their name alone: ​​the dove is a symbol of God's harmony and beauty, peace and love.

They also put first courses on the table on Holy Evening - borscht on beet kvass or cabbage... Both are made from simple herbal ingredients, and that simplicity creates harmony and satisfying food. So a person, daily working on himself, becomes cleaner and wiser. In some regions, ears are added to borsch with filling - potatoes, cabbage or mushrooms (prepared according to the recipe for dumplings, they look like small dumplings).

Uzvar- a decoction of dried fruits - symbolizes living water that cleanses the soul and body. This task is solved by far not only symbolically: prepared from home drying, but it is possible with the addition of dried fragrant herbs (lemon balm, mint, rose petals) and fruits (rose hips, chokeberry), with the addition of apple or pear juice, it gives a really powerful charge of good mood and strengthens the immune system.

In total, the list of 12 Christmas dishes looks like this:

1. kutia,
2. uzvar,
3. pies and donuts,
4. mushrooms,
5. cabbage rolls,
6. fish,
7. Borsch,
8. vinaigrette (or another variation of a salad with beets, simple vegetables and fragrant sunflower oil),
9. potato dumplings,
10. dumplings with cabbage,
11. beans or peas
12. homemade pickles.

12 courses might not have been the only treat on the traditional table. Dishes from potatoes were welcomed - for example, potato pancakes. Round, golden, they symbolized the sun.

Below we offer you the best 12-course recipes for Christmas Eve.

Rich kutia recipe

Kutya can be prepared not only from wheat, but also from barley, rice, with the addition of different varieties of nuts and various sweets. To cook rich kutya for Christmas, you will need:

• 1 glass of wheat for kutia,
• 1 glass of poppy seeds
• a handful of chopped walnuts,
• a handful of raisins
• 4 tablespoons of honey
• 2-3 tablespoons of powdered sugar.

How to cook rich kutya

Steam the poppy with boiling water and leave overnight. In a separate bowl, steam the wheat with boiling water and also leave it overnight. Drain the excess liquid from the poppy, steam it again, immediately drain the water and dry the poppy (it is convenient to use a cotton towel for this purpose).

Fill the wheat with fresh water (the volume is twice as large as the grains, bring to a steady boil, let it cool, drain the water and repeat the procedure again. the wheat with a pestle in a mortar, and then cook over low heat until soft.

Pass the poppy through a meat grinder twice. Stir all the components of the kutya, bring to the desired level of sweetness with sugar or honey. You can add various candied fruits, cognac or rum to kutya, as well as pieces of chocolate or halva.

Dried fruit Uzvar recipe

How to prepare an uzvar? Very simple! You will need:

• 1.5 cups of dried apples, pears, apricots and rose hips,
• 3 tablespoons of sugar
• 5 liters of water.

How to cook an uzvar

Rinse dry, put in a saucepan, add sugar and cover with water. Put on low heat, cover and bring to a boil. After the uzvar boils, boil it for 1 minute and turn it off immediately, do not remove the lid and let the uzvar in this form cool completely.

Spices - cinnamon, cloves, star anise, ginger - will help to make the uzvar more modern in spirit and thinner in taste.

Cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Cabbage rolls are far from such a complicated dish as it might seem. You will need the following ingredients:

• 1 head of cabbage
• 800 grams of fresh or frozen mushrooms (equivalent to 100 grams of dry mushrooms),
• 1 cup boiled loose rice
• 1 small onion
• 2 heaped tablespoons of tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 allspice peas,
• 5 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• water,
• salt.

It is believed that flat cabbage is ideal for stuffed cabbage, and not a round one: it is looser in structure, its leaves are better separated and more elastic.

How to cook stuffed cabbage rolls with mushrooms

Boil cabbage for 3-4 minutes, dry. Trim the hard veins, roll the leaves with a rolling pin - this will make them softer and more obedient.

Boil mushrooms until tender, chop finely. Finely chop the onion and fry together with the mushrooms in 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Mix with rice, salt to taste.

Wrap 2-3 tablespoons of the filling in each sheet, roll the cabbage rolls and fry them for a few minutes on each side in the rest of the oil. Place in a cast iron or heavy-bottomed saucepan.

Dissolve the tomato paste with boiling water, pour the cabbage rolls so that the water takes up 2/3 of the cabbage rolls in the pan, put the spices and simmer over the lowest heat.

If you like the cabbage to be completely steamed and not felt, simmer for 1.5-2 hours. If the cabbage is tender enough and you like its taste, simmer for about an hour.

Uzhgorod-style herring

The homeland of this delicious dish is western Ukraine. Prepare it for Holy Evening:

• 1 fat slightly salted herring,
• 2 medium sweet apples
• 3/4 cup walnut kernels
• 1 small onion
• 4 tablespoons of lemon juice and refined sunflower oil,
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon mustard
• 0.25 teaspoon of ground cumin.

How to cook a herring in Uzhgorod style

Cut off the head and fins of the herring, remove the skin, disassemble into boneless fillets and cut into small pieces. Divide the onion in half, cut one half into thin half rings.

Peel 1 apple, cut into thin slices, mix with onion and herring. Peel the second apple from the skin and seeds, put it in a blender, add the second half of the onion, nuts, lemon juice, butter, mustard, honey and caraway seeds, whisk into a homogeneous sauce. Pour the sauce over the herring and place in the cold for a few hours before serving.

Fill the beans in advance with cold water and leave for 6-8 hours. Rinse, cover with fresh water and boil until tender. Finely chop the onion, squeeze the cabbage from the brine.

Heat oil in a frying pan, put onion and cabbage, add bay leaf, pepper and cumin, simmer for a few minutes, season with sugar and leave to simmer for 7-8 minutes.

Strain the water off the ready-made beans, crush the beans lightly with a pusher, mix with the cabbage and continue to simmer. Cut the prunes into strips, add to the beans and cabbage, simmer together for a few minutes, bring to taste with salt.

Pickled mackerel

You can diversify fish dishes on the Christmas table with homemade pickled mackerel.

• 3 fresh frozen mackerel,
• 4 small onions
• 3 tbsp. l. salt,
• 1 tbsp. l. Sahara,
• 0.5 tbsp. sunflower oil,
• 1/3 tbsp. 9% vinegar
• 1 tbsp. water,
• a bunch of dill,
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tsp without a slide of black ground pepper.

How to cook pickled mackerel at home

Put the mackerel to defrost in the refrigerator, gradually. When it is still a little dense, cut it, removing the head and entrails, cut into portions, cut the onion into half rings, finely chop the dill. Mix salt with sugar.

Put in layers in a pickling container (jar or food container): fish, salt and sugar, a little pepper, fish again, salt and sugar, onions and dill - and so on. Stir the water, oil and vinegar, carefully pour the fish and refrigerate for 12 hours - and you can serve.

Dumplings with potatoes and cabbage

Potato dumplings

Dumplings with potatoes are a classic lean dish, without which, as a rule, no Christmas table can do.

Ingredients for the dough:

• 0.5 kilograms of flour
• 1 glass of cold boiled or filtered water,
• 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• a generous pinch of salt.

Ingredients for the filling:

• 3 potatoes,
• 1 onion
• 3 tablespoons dried mushrooms
• half a bunch of dill,
• vegetable oil,
• salt,
• ground black pepper.

For frying:

• 5-6 tablespoons of vegetable oil,
• 2 onions
• 3 cloves of garlic,
• salt,
• ground black pepper.

How to cook dumplings with potatoes

Sift flour with a slide, make a depression at the top, pour water, oil into it and salt. Knead a stiff elastic dough. Cover it with a clean towel and let it sit for an hour.

Pour boiling water over the mushrooms, when it cools down, cook the mushrooms in salted water until tender. Peel the potatoes and cook them whole separately. Pound the finished potatoes. Remove the mushrooms from the broth, chop finely. Chop the onion finely and fry together with the mushrooms in a little vegetable oil until golden brown.

Mix with potatoes, finely chop the dill and add to the filling, season generously with salt and pepper. Allow the filling to cool well, mold the dumplings (or roll out the dough thinly - and this dough rolls out perfectly - and cut the circles with a glass, fill with the filling and pinch, or divide the dough into several parts, roll the sausages, cut each into pieces and roll out into dumplings).

Place the blinded dumplings on a floured board or clean towel. Cook in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes in small portions. For frying, finely chop the onion, squeeze the garlic through a press, fry in vegetable oil, season with salt and pepper. Pour hot frying over the prepared dumplings.

Dumplings with cabbage

Cabbage - sauerkraut and white cabbage stew or red cabbage stew - is also one of the most desirable dishes on the Christmas table. It symbolizes the inner strength of each person and the entire community, which, gathered together, like cabbage leaves on a stump, can withstand all adversity. Mushrooms, tomatoes, bell peppers - or apples, dried fruits are stewed with cabbage. Season with laurel, caraway seeds, allspice. And, of course, they prepare dumplings with cabbage.

For dumplings with cabbage, you will need to prepare the dough as in the previous recipe.

For filling:

• 500 grams of sauerkraut,
• 50 grams of dried mushrooms,
• 2 onions
• salt,
• sugar,
• ground black pepper.

Pour boiling water over the mushrooms, let stand a little and swell, then cook until tender. Cool and chop finely. Chop the onion finely and fry until soft in half the butter.

Try the cabbage; if it's too sour, rinse it in cold water. Squeeze excess juice out of cabbage, chop finely. Simmer in the rest of the oil until soft, gradually adding the mushroom broth, season with sugar, salt and pepper.

Mix the cooked cabbage with the mushroom stir-fry, simmer together for a few minutes, season to taste. Cool and cook the dumplings as in the previous recipe.

Beans with cabbage and prunes

• 1 cup beans
• 200 grams of sauerkraut, sauerkraut,
• 1 onion
• 6-8 prunes,
• 0.25 teaspoon of cumin,
• 0.5 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 1-2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 bay leaf
• vegetable oil,
• salt.

Fill the beans in advance with cold water and leave for 6-8 hours. Rinse, cover with fresh water and boil until tender.

Finely chop the onion, squeeze the cabbage from the brine. Heat oil in a frying pan, put onion and cabbage, add bay leaf, pepper and cumin, simmer for a few minutes, season with sugar and leave to simmer for 7-8 minutes.

Strain the water off the ready-made beans, crush the beans lightly with a pusher, mix with the cabbage and continue to simmer. Cut the prunes into strips, add to the beans and cabbage, simmer together for a few minutes, add salt to taste.

Poloninsky salad

• 2 small sweet beets
• 10 walnuts,
• 1 red onion
• 300 grams of fresh frozen or 50-60 grams of dried forest mushrooms,
• 3 cloves of garlic,
• 5 tablespoons of sunflower oil
• 1-2 teaspoons of vinegar
• salt,
• sugar.

Bake the beets until tender (about 45-50 minutes), wrapping them in foil. Peel the finished beets, cut into strips, season with vinegar and, if the beets are not very sweet, a little sugar.

Boil the mushrooms until tender (dry ones will need to be soaked beforehand), cool and cut into strips. Divide the onion in half, finely chop one half and fry until golden brown in oil, and cut the other into thin half rings.

Grind the nuts with garlic with a blender or meat grinder. Assemble the salad: mix the beets, mushrooms, onion half rings, season with onion stir-fry and nuts. Season with salt, if necessary, add a little more vinegar - and you can serve.

Mushroom sauce

• 0.5 liter jar of dried porcini mushrooms,
• 2 onions
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 glass of mushroom broth,
• 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil
• salt,
• allspice peas,
• 3 cloves of garlic.

Soak the mushrooms in cold water for several hours, then boil the mushrooms until tender with allspice. Cool, cut the mushrooms into strips, save the broth. Cut the onion into half rings, mix with the mushrooms, squeeze the garlic to the mixture. Heat the oil in a frying pan, fry the mushrooms and onions until lightly golden, sprinkle with flour, pour in the mushroom broth, stir, salt to taste, boil until lightly thickened.

As you know, there is Catholic Christmas and Orthodox Christmas, and at the same time it is difficult to find even two Catholic or Orthodox countries that would have absolutely identical Christmas dishes and a Christmas menu. The Christmas table should not only satisfy the family, but also symbolize abundance, the beginning of a new life. Traditional Christmas food is very diverse in different countries, and a wide variety of foods are allowed due to the end of the fast. For example, from the end of November to January 7, the Orthodox Christmas fast lasts, the Christmas fast menu is a great way not only to cleanse yourself spiritually, but also physically. Eating at Christmas fast excludes fatty animal food, fish can be eaten several times a week. But after the fast, the recipes for Christmas dishes are more varied, there is meat, fish, and dairy products.

For the countries of Western Europe, Christmas baking recipes are especially characteristic of sweet dishes. At this time, houses and bazaars are really flooded with Christmas pastries. The recipe for Christmas baking is Christmas cookies as well as Christmas gingerbread. Christmas cupcake and Christmas candy recipes are also very popular. England even has a special English Christmas muffin. The recipe for Christmas cookies is simple, the main thing is a beautiful design. To please loved ones and especially children, we offer you a recipe for Christmas gingerbread. You will need flour, sugar, soda, eggs, butter, cocoa, honey, spices. After mixing the ingredients and kneading the dough, it should be put in the refrigerator overnight so that it is infused and saturated with spices, in this case, you will get especially fragrant Christmas gingerbread. The recipe for Christmas gingerbread will also require a certain artistic taste from you, because you will need to sculpt figures of humans, animals, or some geometric ones from the dough. After that, the cookies are baked in the oven and decorated with icing. Christmas cookies are made in much the same way. The recipe for Christmas cake is very popular in England. It is prepared with dried fruits and nuts, impregnated with some kind of alcohol. For Orthodox Christians, Christmas sweets are primarily Christmas kutia and Christmas pastries such as Christmas cake. The recipe that creates a holiday for children is lollipops in the form of cockerels. Christmas tea is ideal for Christmas baking. It is made from black tea, ginger, cinnamon and orange peel.

Also in many European countries, a must-have Christmas dish is the Christmas goose, Christmas duck or Christmas turkey. Christmas goose is prepared in Germany, Denmark, Greece, Russia. You will definitely not regret if a Christmas goose appears on your table. The Christmas goose recipe usually uses apples and prunes. Christmas turkey is a recipe that is common in England and the United States. Meat dishes are often accompanied by Christmas salad, the recipe of which may differ in different countries.

If you carefully study the history of the holiday from the point of view of culinary, it turns out that the hostesses prepared two tables: lean for Christmas Eve and abundantly fast for Christmas morning.

On Christmas night, from 6 to 7 January, the festive Divine Liturgy is celebrated. On the very day of the holiday of Christmas, believers break their fast (they eat not lean, but quick food). The twelve consecutive days after Christmas are called holy days, or Christmastide. This is probably why, according to legend, there should be 12 dishes on the Christmas table. Some of them passed on the morning of January 7 from Christmas Eve - these are kutia and vzvar. The rest, modest, dishes were waiting in the wings.

Christmas Eve: the first star

The holiday begins on the evening of January 6 - Christmas Eve begins. According to church rules and folk tradition, they do not eat on this day until the first star appears in the sky - in remembrance of the Star of Bethlehem, which showed the Magi the way to the place of the Nativity of Christ.

They also say that Christmas is not celebrated alone - it is a family holiday. It was customary to gather either from the parents, or the whole large family from the eldest in the family. Prior to the first star, the hostess had to prepare several lenten obligatory Christmas dishes. The main items on this menu were kutia, or sochivo, and vzvar (uzvar).

Sochivo, or kutia

An indispensable dish, without which neither Christmas nor Easter was celebrated in pre-revolutionary Russia. Christmas Eve - from sochiv, or kuteinik - from kutya, that was the name of the day before Christmas. And all of it passed in anticipation of the miracle of birth. It was believed that the richer and tastier the juicy, the more productive the next year will be.

The products from which kutia were prepared were endowed with special significance: grain was considered a symbol of resurrection to life, honey - a symbol of health and a prosperous (sweet) life, and poppy seeds promised prosperity in the family.

Pre-revolutionary everyday life writer A.A. Corinthian wrote: “In the evening, on the eve of the Nativity of Christ, Russians who invariably adhere to the old pious customs do not break the fast: according to the Church Charter, it is allowed to eat only sympathetically at this time. , going from November 15 (28) until the merry joyful Christmastide ".

However, wheat was not always the basis of kutia. In the southern regions of Russia, rice was more often cooked. However, nuts, honey and dried fruits remained unchanged part of the recipe.

Traditional recipe sochiva

• wheat grains - one glass,
• poppy - 100 g
• peeled walnuts, hazelnuts, cashews - 100 g,
• honey - 3 tablespoons,
• dried fruits.

Crush the grains in a wooden mortar, adding a little warm water so that the wheat shell comes off. Then the kernel must be separated from the husk by sifting and washing. Cook crumbly lean porridge in water, adding 2-3 glasses of water to the cereal.

Grind poppy seeds until poppy milk is obtained, add honey to it, mix and put in wheat porridge. At the very end, add crushed nuts and dried fruits steamed with boiling water.

Rice soy

• rice - 1 glass
• raisins - 50 g
• prunes - 50 g
• dried apricots - 50 g,
• almonds or walnuts - 50 g,
• honey - three tablespoons

Rinse the rice, add cold water and bring to a boil. Throw in a colander and rinse again with cold water. Then pour 1.5 cups of cold water and cook until tender without removing the lid. Steam dried fruits in hot water (15–20 minutes).

Chop prunes and dried apricots. Crush the almonds. If all the water has not boiled away, it should be drained, the rice should be cooled. Add dried fruits, honey and nuts to the rice.

Brew

The second must-have dish on the Christmas table. A broth was prepared from dried fruits, but honey was added instead of sugar. The most popular was an apple brew with the addition of dry or soaked cranberries, lingonberries or raspberries.

In the south of Russia, a smoked pear was necessarily added to the drink. Mint, oregano, currant leaves, thyme and other aromatic herbs are often added. It is not necessary to boil the broth: it is enough to pour boiling water over the fruit and leave to infuse. A thermos is perfect for these purposes. It is often diluted with broth and eaten in the form of a liquid sweet porridge.

Lenten pancakes

Christmas Eve evening was not complete without lenten dishes. But if kutia and broth were obligatory, then pancakes, vinaigrette, cabbage rolls, fish pies, vegetable stews or porridge remained welcome guests on the last day of fasting. Pancakes were common among this menu. They perfectly complemented boiled fish or caviar, jam or honey. They only made them without milk and butter. For example, potato broth or mineral water.

The vinaigrette

Lean or herring vinaigrette was served very often on Christmas Eve. The recipe is simple, but the dish turns out to be tasty and inexpensive, which made it possible to cook it in poor families. And in the houses of the wealthy, sturgeon or white fish could be added to the Christmas vinaigrette.

Christmas: Breaking the fast

When the night is over and after the service the family returns to the house, the long-awaited holiday of Christmas begins. Fasting is left behind, and meat dishes, pies with milk and butter, fatty fish and sumptuous desserts appear on the table.

It was believed that a baked goose (or other bird) and pork dishes should be an indispensable attribute of a Christmas meal. Of course, on the pre-Christmas days, millions of geese, ducks, turkeys and chickens were brought to the country's bazaars.

"Christmas in Moscow was felt for a long time - a merry, business bustle. Just started talking in Filippovki, on November 14, for Christmas fast, and at the freight stations, especially in Rogozhskaya, geese cackle day and night -" goose trains "to Germany: earlier it was, before the glacier-cars, live cargo. Do not believe - hundreds of trains! The goose went through Moscow - from Kozlov, Tambov, Kursk, Saratov, Samara ... I don’t remember Poltava, Poland, Lithuania, Volhynia: there are other ways from there. And the duck , and chicken, and turkey, and grouse ... capercaillie and hazel grouse, bacon-brisket, and ... - what a soul requires for Christmas "- wrote Ivan Shmelev.

Christmas goose with sauerkraut

• small goose,
• cabbage - 800 g,
• bulbs - 4 pcs.,
• cumin - 0.5 tablespoons,
• salt,
• oil.

If the carcass is frozen, let the goose lie in the refrigerator for 24 hours. Then wash the goose, rub outside and inside with salt and caraway seeds. If possible, you can boil the goose in red wine - whole, about 40 minutes. The wine will give the bird its softness.

Stew the sauerkraut with butter and onions in a saucepan, covered. Stuff the goose with this cabbage and fry on a baking sheet, pouring a little broth on it and pouring it over the goose. Then goose fat will melt - you will water it.

Pig on the table

Pork was also a traditional product on the Christmas table. According to legend, when Jesus was born, in the manger, all the animals joyfully greeted the divine baby - except for the pig. She grunted annoyingly and interfered with the baby's sleep. That is why, as a punishment, the pig became an indispensable dish on the Christmas table.

Even during fasting, they began to take to the capitals, to central fairs, whole carts of pork - there were huge carcasses, and barrels of corned beef, and suckling pigs. "It's bad or bad, but two or three pork carcasses are necessary, and black piglets, roast with porridge, about three dozen, and white ones, for aspic, moloshnichkov, two dozen, so that there will be enough for conspiracies" - wrote Ivan Shmelev in "The Lord's Summer".

Many dishes were prepared from pork, but in every prosperous house the table was decorated with a suckling pig with porridge or cold with horseradish.

Cold pig with horseradish

The recipe from Ekaterina Avdeeva's book "The Handbook of a Russian Experienced Housewife" is simple: boil a piglet entirely in salt water with fragrant herbs - thyme, dill - and onions. Then cut into pieces and pour with horseradish and sour cream. Serve cold.

Pork belly stuffed with cabbage and apples

In the old days, porridge with pork legs was served, but you can make pork belly with cabbage and apples for buckwheat porridge. It will turn out very juicy.

• pork belly - 800 g,
• cabbage - 400 g,
• apples - 5 pcs.,
• butter - 1 tablespoon,
• onion - 1 pc.,
• salt and pepper.

Chop fresh cabbage, salt and squeeze. Add finely chopped sour apples, oil to the cabbage, mix. Wash the pork brisket, chop the bones in several places, cut a large hole between the bones and the meat with a knife.

Put prepared minced meat there, sew up, place in a pan or baking sheet, sprinkle with finely chopped onions, add 3 tablespoons of water and fry in an oven preheated to 200 ° C until tender. Serve with crumbly buckwheat porridge.

Pig and rooster aspic

Rinse the shank and legs of the piglet well and chop it into pieces. Place in a saucepan, cover with cold water so that it covers the meat a few centimeters, boil and remove the foam. After an hour, add the rooster.

Boil the jellied meat over very low heat for 6–8 hours so that the water boils off to half the volume. 20 minutes before the end of cooking, add bay leaf, peppercorns and salt to taste to the broth. Remove the meat from the broth, separate from the bones and cut into pieces. Strain the broth. Pour chopped garlic on the bottom of the dish, put the meat, pour the broth, mix gently with a spoon and refrigerate until it solidifies.

Rye fish pie

For the test:

• rye flour - 1 glass,
• wheat flour - 1 glass,
• milk - 1 glass,
• dry yeast - 1 tsp,
• sugar - 2 tsp.,
• salt - 1 tsp.,
• vegetable oil - 1 tbsp. l.

For filling:

• pike perch fillet - 500 g,
• peeled mussels - 200 g,
• onion - 1 pc.,
• carrots - 1 pc.,
• pickled cucumber pickle - 500 ml,
• vegetable oil - 2 tablespoons,
• dill - 1 bunch,
• salt and white pepper to taste.

Knead the dough, for which 1 tsp. dry yeast pour 5 tsp. warm water, let stand for 10-15 minutes to swell. Sift wheat and rye flour, pour in vegetable oil, milk at room temperature, add sugar and salt, add yeast, knead.

Leave the dough to rise in a warm place. The dough should come up twice and knead twice. We divide it into 2 parts.

For the filling in cucumber brine, cook mussels and fish, put them in a colander. Peel and finely chop the onions and carrots. Fry vegetables with fish and mussels in a frying pan. Season with salt and pepper. Turn it off and add the chopped dill. Form a cake in a baking sheet, spread the top with egg yolk and bake for 50 minutes at 170 ° C.

Gingerbread

• butter - 100 g + another piece for lubrication,
• dark unrefined cane sugar - 100 g,
• flour with baking powder - 175 g,
• ground ginger - 4 tsp,
• light molasses - 175 g,
• ginger wine - 3 tablespoons,
• eggs of any size, can be broken - 2 pcs.,
• finely grated fresh ginger the size of a hazelnut
• finely chopped canned ginger - 150 g,
• icing sugar - 75 g,
• ginger root for decoration - 1 pc.

Preheat oven to 160 ° C, grease a 23 cm baking dish. Whisk the butter and sugar with a pinch of salt until the mixture is fluffy. Sift flour and ground ginger together.

Pour in the molasses (for convenience, use a pre-oiled spoon and a silicone kitchen spatula), 1 tbsp. wine and mix everything. Beat in eggs one at a time, then gradually add flour.

Mix everything with fresh and canned ginger. Spoon the mixture into a baking dish. Smooth the surface and bake for about 50-60 minutes, until the dough sticks to the surface of the wooden skewer in the middle of the pie. Leave the cake to cool in the mold. After the cake has cooled completely, make the frosting by mixing the powdered sugar and remaining ginger wine and drizzle over the surface of the cake. Cut the ginger root into thin slices and decorate the cake.

Custard soufflé in Russian

• any berries - 500 g,
• water - ½ glass,
• sugar - 2 cups,
• egg whites - 5 pcs.

Make mashed berries from the berries, add water and cook. Add sugar (about the same as the puree). Beat the whites into a stiff foam. Add to puree. Put the mashed potatoes in baking tins, put in an oven heated to 170 degrees for 30 minutes.