Old Christmas recipes after the fast, which lasts November 28 to January 6, are varied and make it possible to collect a rich and satisfying feast. Even if you do not adhere to Orthodox traditions, many of our grandmothers' holiday dishes will help to bring a significant variety to a family meal. Suggestions for what to cook for Christmas will make for a real feast.
Kutia with poppy seeds and nuts
Traditional Christmas recipes are not complete without wheat kutya, which is served on Christmas Eve after the first star. The classic ritual porridge, also called sochivo, is made from soaked wheat, but you can simplify the cooking and use wheat grits (1 cup). Rinse it in advance and fill it with cool water.
After that, boil 0.5 cups of poppy seeds with boiling water. After a few hours, when the seeds are swollen, drain the liquid and grind the poppy seeds in a coffee grinder, as an option - rotate in a meat grinder 2-3 times or grind well with a wooden pestle. Boil wheat groats in 400 ml of water, add honey to taste. If you are not observing Christmas fast or serving kutya on January 7th, add a tablespoon of butter.
For 0.5 cups of dried fruits (raisins, dried apricots), hold in boiling water, then chop. Chop a glass of walnut kernels, mix with dried fruits and add to the booze.
Christmas duck with apples
Rinse the gutted duck well and dry it, then rub with a mixture of salt and pepper, then with sour cream or mayonnaise. Cut 3-4 green apples into slices, mix with 0.5 lemon half rings, cinnamon, salt and pepper (pinch each). Stuff the duck with fruit and sew up the hole in the carcass. Place the Christmas duck on a greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 1.5 hours at 180 ° C. Before use, remove the threads from the carcass and hold the finished bird wrapped in foil for half an hour.
Pork and poultry jelly
Christmas recipes have long included rich jellies that housewives began to prepare ahead of time. For a richer taste of the dish, it is recommended to mix pork and poultry. Soak 700 g of meat (pork knuckle and other parts of pork carcass with cartilage and bones, turkey, chicken) overnight in a saucepan where the jelly will cook. After that, scrape the shank and skin of the bird with a knife, rinse and bring to a boil in new water.
Drain the first broth and rinse the meat again, cover with clean water and simmer for at least 4 hours under a lid. Add a couple of chopped carrots, onion, garlic (2 prongs), pepper and salt to taste. Half an hour before the end of cooking, put some sweet peas and bay leaves in the broth.
Cook the Christmas jelly for another hour, then take out the meat and disassemble it with your hands and a small knife, remove all the bones. Mix with very finely chopped cartilage and skin, place in trays and pour over with strained broth. Keep on the middle shelf of the refrigerator until it solidifies.
Vinaigrette with herring
The popular vegetable salad can be made at Christmas and served on both Christmas Eve and January 7th. Lightly salted fatty herring will make the dish more satisfying and tasty. First, boil until tender a couple of carrots and small beets, 3-4 potatoes. Cut vegetables into cubes, peel and chop the flesh of a large herring. Add 3-4 chopped pickles, 300 g sauerkraut. Add green peas, chopped onion feathers and dill to taste, season with salt and pepper. Mix everything well and season with vegetable oil.
Sugar-coated biscuits
On Christmas Eve and the subsequent festive meal, the hostesses baked pies with a variety of fillings - vizigi, peas, brains, vegetables and other products. If there are children in the house, they will also enjoy curly sweet pastries. There are a lot of different recipes for Christmas cookies and gingerbread.
A crumbly treat can be made with honey and ginger. Sift 250 g of premium wheat flour, mix with a quarter teaspoon of salt and the same amount of cloves and nutmeg, add 5 g of cinnamon and ground ginger each.
In a cast-iron saucepan, make a syrup: mix 50 g each honey, granulated sugar and butter, 10 g cream. Melt with constant stirring and add the beaten egg. Knead the spiced flour and syrup dough, place on a floured board and roll out thinly. Cut Christmas cookies into cookie cutters, place on a baking sheet with baking paper and keep in the oven at 160 ° C for 15 minutes.
Cool the baked goods. Whisk the protein until firm peaks, mix with a broom with a glass of powdered sugar and dilute with lemon juice until pasty. Decorate the cookies with icing.
Pear uzvar
It's hard to imagine traditional Christmas recipes without a rich, sweet compote, or uzvar (vzvara). An excellent drink is made from dried pears. Rinse with 400 g of dried fruit, cover with warm water and let soften a little.
Put pears in boiling water (2 L), bring to a boil and add half a glass of granulated sugar. Boil the uzvar for 10 minutes, remove from heat and dissolve 2 tablespoons of honey in it. Add a small amount of lemon juice if desired. Insist the drink before drinking in a cool place for at least 10-12 hours.
